What Do You Do When God Commits A “Mistake”?
Have you ever felt like God committed a big mistake?
Like, you wonder if God was right when He placed you in a dysfunctional family? Or a job where your boss and your co-employees like picking on you because of your faith? Or God seems silent when you badly needed an answer?
Moses and the Israelites felt that edge-of-your-seat kind of situation when God commanded them to encamp in a land facing the Red Sea.
For reasoning’s sake, the Israelites and Moses were supposed to be running as far away as they can after the famed “exodus” from Egypt, the land they served as slaves for more than 400 years.
Pharaoh, after sensing that he made a “big blunder” of letting go a labor force that could have probably built more pyramids and edifices in Egypt more than he could imagine, rallied his troops to pursue the Israelites.
As Pharaoh and his troops drew near the Israelites who were encamped in Pi-Hahiroth, guess how the former slaves reacted—they grumbled and complained, then began the blame game on Moses.
Exodus 14:11-12 (English Standard Version)–11They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
I could relate very well with these scaredy cats-like Israelites!
Many times in my walk with God, I also complained.
I complained as if it’s the end of the world and as if the traffic situation I was in at that time would cost me my very life; or that the financial stress we go through sometimes would pull the plug of life from us.
But then, read through that chapter, and we’d see that God never committed a big mistake after all.
In fact, God specifically commanded them to break camp in Pi-Hahiroth, not for them to be gobbled up by the raiding army of Pharaoh, but so that He could reveal to them what He could do in the midst of chaos.
Verse 31—“Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they) believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses”.
Here’s what I learned: when it seemed to us that God committed a big mistake, hit the breaks, don’t grumble, pray for Hs will to be done and watch Him pull off those “Red-Sea-dividing” miracles.
Photo Source: http://www.ramdasstapes.org/moses_parting_the_red_sea.jpg
Haven In The Midst Of Uncertainty
Calm in the midst of chaos
I received this message from an Arellano University student a few days after Typhoon Ondoy wreaked havoc in Metro Manila and some parts of the nearby provinces:
“Only in God are we truly safe and secure. Anything else is false security. Whether you are surrounded by a mighty wall of stone, a comfortable home or a secure job, NO ONE can predict what tomorrow may bring. Our relationship with God is the only security that cannot be taken away.”
For the past days that we were monitoring the news on the post-Ondoy calamity, we see thousands of families packing the various evacuation centers in Pasig City, Marikina City, Cainta, San Mateo, Rizal and Taguig City.
People affected directly from the typhoon either lost their houses, their cars completely submerged by water, or went through the near-death experience of almost being swept away by the raging floodwater.
In light of all these sad episodes in the lives of people, we all have to go back to the truth that nothing in this world is permanent.
Everything we own and we value–our bank account, our salary or earnings, our business, our jobs, our titles and positions in school or work, our houses or properties, our cars—literally everything we put so much effort to keep and value—all these won’t give us permanent security in life.
However, the one, solid truth we can all lean on is this—that God is our strong tower, our refuge, our security, our haven in a life that’s full of uncertainty.
The Sons of Korah, who rose to eminence in the Levitical service during the time and even after Moses’ time in the Old Testament, wrote Psalm 46 to perfectly describe who God is.
1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its water roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
We can’t change the fact that the life we live in is full of uncertainty, but God is constant—He is ever faithful to His word, He’s our security, He is trustworthy.
Photo Source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HWU3wX2cDLQ/R4S9Rfwp8dI/AAAAAAAABew/DDL_5o3w5gY/s400/calm_sea_blacks_beach.jpg
Filipinos’ Bayanihan At Its Best
Photo courtesy of Pastor Dennis Sy (through facebook)
One thing I love about our Filipino culture is the bayanihan spirit that is very, very evident these days in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy.
As of last night, more than 300,000 people have been displaced and/or affected directly by the massive flooding caused by a heavy, 6-hour rain that almost caused a standstill at the Greater Manila area and major parts of the Rizal Province.
In my blog yesterday, I wrote that Marikina City remains covered with mud and debris caused by the overflowing of the Marikina River at the height of the torrential rains.
Montalban, Cainta (which is still flooded and some part of the road impassable by vehicles), along with San Mateo were also hit heavily by flood and rain.
Hundreds were rendered homeless, in need of food and water as well as medicine.
And while Ondoy left a gigantic need and a trail of dead, injured and homeless, Filipinos from different parts of the National Capital Region and well as provinces just outside of the NCR have thrown all kinds of support to the victims of the typhoon.
My wife, Ava was sharing to me over dinner how God can use crisis like the one brought by Ondoy, to bring unity in our nation.
I agree with that.
I believe in every bad situation, God can bring something good out of it.
And in our case, the good that happened was that people from various status in life joined forces to help each other pick up the pieces of their broken lives.
Over at Victory, relief goods continue to pour in at the different centers—Fort, Ortigas, Quezon City, Caloocan City and here at U-Belt.
Allow me to thank all those who have donated food, medicine, clothes and blankets during the past few days when we began the relief operations.
There is still so much work to do to help those who were affected and displaced by the typhoon, but one thing is sure, we are all making a contribution towards rebuilding our nation.
Small Contribution Is Big Contribution
We just arrived an hour ago from a relief operation in Marikina City, one of the hardest hit areas in Greater Metro Manila after just six hours of torrential rains brought by Typhoon Ondoy yesterday.
The sight of the Marikina River Banks a day after Typhoon Ondoy onslaught that battered Metro Manila.
Ava’s sister Aubrey and her family live in the three-storey house they bought two years ago in Melrose Townhomes, which is just one block away from Cinco Hermanos Subdivision along the Industrial Zone of Marikina.
As we traveled there this afternoon with my wife, his youngest sister Aryane, her friend Nikka and their cousin Al, who served as our truck driver, our hearts just bled at the sight of the horrible destruction brought by the typhoon.
Broken tree trunks, branches and house roofs completely removed from the residential areas were scattered all over C-5 extension while the Marikina River was littered with debris.
We distributed food in one of the nearest barangays within sight of Melrose. And people from that barangay—young, old, teenagers—were all excited as they lined up to receive plastic bags of goodies.
In fact, it seemed that these people have skipped meals and are waiting for help from anywhere at that point because nothing was left of their houses.
Aubrey’s subdivision was submerged, with water reaching to about 15 feet, rendering most of the people’s appliances destroyed, while cars were left floating for a 12-hour period.
By the time we began cleaning up the place when we reached their area around 4 p.m., the ground was covered with mud.
Though the scene appears discouraging for most people, yet, one thing that’s encouraging was the sight of people in Marikina helping one another.
There are only two things people could do at this point in the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy’s destructive onslaught—offer help or watch.
Whether big or small contribution—a prayer, an encouragement through text message or a 2-minute call, sending some clothes or food to any of the people displaced—these are all help worth giving.
It will not just ease the pain caused by the typhoon, it could also spark hope to these people as they live to see a new day.
In The Eye Of The Storm
Electricity in our area in Mandaluyong (near Boni Avenue) has just been restored 10 minutes ago. This is the first time in 13 hours that I was able to get in touch with computer.
My wife and I had been wondering what had happened outside (in the Metropolitan Manila area), considering that our mobile phones’ batteries were all drained. And without electricity, we couldn’t charge it. Plus, our TV and radio were useless.
Good thing Jing, Pastor Bong’s wife was just a phone call (landline) away so she was the one feeding us information because the area where they live in Sampaloc, Manila didn’t suffer any power outage.
Typhoon Ondoy surely will never be forgotten because its fury was completely felt in major parts of Luzon. Here in Metro Manila alone, major cities had been waist or even neck deep as reported in many flash news.
Ava’s sister Aubrey, who lives in Cinco Hermanos in Marikina City jolted us with a news just yesterday afternoon as she said their house was already inundated with floodwater reaching the second floor of their four-storey house.
We wondered how terrible life was for people who have no decent shelter to protect them in these moments of crisis.
Sometimes, things don’t seem to make sense. And people are probably asking, “Where is God when we needed Him?”
That’s a hard to answer question.
And while Ondoy has been lashing our country with its fury, the Scriptures runs afresh with powerful words about God and what He is capable of doing even in moments like these.
Isaiah 25:4 says, “You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat…”
Yes, God is our refuge from the storm.
Storms like Ondoy can be intimidating and bring fear sometimes in our hearts, but when we look at God and consider His “bigness” in the scheme of things, we can always receive peace and security that only He can bring.
Post Script: If you know of anyone who is severely affected by Typhoon Ondoy, this is a great moment to share God’s love to them. A prayer, maybe send some bread and clothes to them could make a world of difference in their broken “world”.
Photo Source: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6ryKynE90m8/SF7pfjzKKfI/AAAAAAAACyc/eDeEkkcVGY4/s320/flood+in+manila.jpg
