July: Let the Music Take Control

The month of July is full of firsts. I had my first practical test in Social Dance (Good Lord, He blessed me with right and left feet… and not two left feet), and I also had my first quizzes in all of my subjects. I could say that the practical dance was the main highlight for this month, so I named it “Let the Music Take Control.” In dancing, it’s as simple as that, letting the music take control of your body and go with flow. After several hours of practicing, the day of performing our dance piece will now be witnessed by our professor and fellow PE-mates. We were really happy that everything went well, we’ve got 1.25!

Another first for this month – quizzes. Most of my quizzes are taken online, either using e-LEAP or moodle (Though I really prefer taking exams inside the classroom because online assessments are a lot harder). The picture on the left shows my grade for quiz #1 in Environmental Engineering. I also got high grades with other subjects.

School aside, I started attending the first ever speech class in our church which started just two weeks ago. This class is headed by Ms. Lyn Abad, our speech instructor and the mastermind, and it is held every Saturday.  I’m really enjoying this class, I’ve learned so many things in just two Saturdays and I’m so excited to learn more for the upcoming sessions. Before, I thought that as long as you can speak basic English it’s fine already, but with this class, I learned that having a good communication skills, such as emphasis and right pronunciation, is an advantage too, so that your listener would be able to understand your message effectively. The picture on the right is our class logo, we got the idea of this logo from the American box office superhero film “X-Men: First Class” since our class is also the pioneer for the said class.

Another month has passed, new endeavors and new experiences are about to come this August. The prelims week is fast approaching – oh how I missed this one week of sleepless nights. Till next time.

Verse of the Month:

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” – 2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

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Is "fleece throwing" a good way to discover the will of God?

Judges 6:36-40

Some try to determine God's will by "throwing fleeces." We say, "If X happens, the I'll do one thing; but if Z happens, then I'll do another." But how does such a strategy differ from treating the will of God like a coin toss and basing our decisions on whether it falls heads or tails? In most cases, putting out a fleece demonstrates not a robust faith in God, but an unhealthy suspicion that He doesn't have our best interests at heart and that He really can’t be trusted to fulfill His word.

We find the act of fleece throwing in the Book of Judges, when God calls Gideon to fight the Midianites (see Judg. 6:36-40). Gideon doesn’t feel so sure about the divine assignment and puts out his fleece, not to discover the will of God, but to try to gain some confidence that he will enjoy success. Notice three things about this questionable practice.

First, the fleece throwing was Gideon’s idea, not God’s. Nowhere in Scripture does God authorize such a practice or call it a desirable method for knowing His purpose.

Second, only here in Scripture is this method used. No one else employs it.

Third, Gideon did not perform the fleece throwing to know God’s will, but to gain confidence in the outcome that God had promised. Gideon already knew with certainty that God wanted him to lead the people into battle against Midianites. The armies had already gathered for battle! Gideon knew he was the leader. He simply wanted an extraordinary sign from God that he and the Israelites would succeed.

Repeatedly in Scripture, God calls us to remain faithful to Him without regard to whether we will succeed. Genuine trust in God means that we follow Him wherever He leads and do whatever He directs, without any concern for the outcome. Job had the right idea: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).

Gideon’s fleece throwing indicated that he didn’t really trust God. Likewise today, many people who use “fleece throwing” reveal that they don’t really trust God to remain true ti His word. But God calls us to a different path, laid out by the psalmist: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Ps. 46:1-2)

Thoughts-of-Mine

When I read this story again, I was reminded, and asked myself, “how many times did I perform fleece throwing in my life?” The answer, so many times that I couldn’t even remember how many instances in my life that I’d perform this practice. Before, if the circumstances or conflicts arise and I needed to make a big decision to solve it, I always ask for a sign, like what Gideon did, that if A happens then I will do this, but if B happens then I’ll do this.

I wasn’t even aware that every time I do that practice, I’m doubting God’s sovereignty over my life. I’m doubting my faith that He is an all-powerful God, an all-knowing God, and an omnipresent God. While reading this passage, I was just reminded by God of this verse from Deuteronomy 31:8, it says, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

In knowing and fulfilling the will of God in our lives, we need to remember three significant things. First, the God that we serve is ahead of us. We can never be ahead of God, and no one in this universe can. If He’s ahead of us, He had seen not only our future but even our past and our present. He knows exactly what will our life be ten years from now. He even knows what we’re going to eat for dinner later. Every action that we will do, every decision that we will make, and every word that we will speak; He knows it all.

Second, the God that we serve will always be by our side, He will never leave us nor forsake us. He made a promise that He will always be by our side whenever and wherever we need Him. He is true and faithful to all his promises and they are all “Yes” in Christ (see 2 Co. 1:20). He is the God who will never abandon His sheep, that if one of them gone missing He will look for that sheep no matter what.

Third,  we need not to be afraid or be discouraged. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.” If God wants us to accomplish something, even though it seems too impossible or too difficult to be done or too senseless to be done, all we have to do is to obey Him. He gave us power and strength so that we can overcome whatever circumstances that we may face.

Let’s always remember that the God that we serve is an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God.

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What the Bible says about: VOWS

Judges 11:29-40

Is there something you want that blazes in your heart like an ever-burning fire? You think about it all the time, and it takes all the faith you have to wait for it patiently. You’d do almost anything to have it; and though God has already promised to give you the desires of your heart (see Ps. 37:4), you feel like you need to go the extra mile to motivate God to give it to you. So you offer God a deal you believe He can’t refuse.

This is the way Jephthah’s tragedy began. As war with the Ammonites loomed ahead of him, a passion for victory burned in his heart. He pleaded with God in Judges 11:30-31, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

Even though Jephthah knew that the territory the Ammonites wanted rightfully belonged to Israel – and though he realized that God would protect the inheritance He had given them (see Judg. 11:15-24) – it seems that Jephthah still doubted. And whether it was to show his devotion to the Lord, or to move God to act in Israel’s favor, Jephthah made the vow that he would soon deeply regret – without consulting God whether he should make the vow or not.

Doubt makes us do many things that are not God’s will for us. Jephthah learned this the hard way. When he returned home from successfully defeating the Ammonites, Judges 11:34 tells us, “There was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child.” What a sad and horrible day. Although Jephthah had gotten the victory, he would have to sacrifice his only child in order to fulfill his vow – and he knew he couldn’t go back on his word to God (see Num. 30:2).

The question remains: Was it really necessary?

In fact, the answer is most definitely no! Jephthah’s sacrifice wasn’t necessary. God desires obedience rather than sacrifice (see 1 Sam. 15:22). The Lord promised, “If you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your god… the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth… The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face” (Deut. 28:1,7). God was going to give Jephthah the triumph anyway, but because of his doubt in God, he paid a great price.

Understand that God does what He wants to (see Ps. 115:3, 135:6) – your vows do not move Him. Your epic acts of sacrifice will not cause Him to adjust His timetable. And, in fact, your pledges may be evidence to Him that your faith still isn’t mature enough for what He wants to give you.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne… But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one” (Matt. 5:33-34, 37).

Friend, don’t fall into the trap of the evil one – thinking that you can convince God through vows to give you the desire of your heart – because that road only leads to heartache. Rather, obey God, count on His promises, and express your faith that He will do as He says. He will most certainly fulfill His promises to you above and beyond what you can imagine (see Josh. 23:14; Eph. 3:20). Because, as Jephthah learned, the consequences of living any other way are far too great.

Thoughts-of-Mine

While reading Jephthah’s story, I was reminded of the story of little mermaid. I’m not talking about the Little Mermaid of Disney (we all know that Disney’s fairy tales always end with: and-they-live-happily-ever-after ending) but the original story of Little Mermaid (Den lille havfrue) which was written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1837. When little mermaid turned 15, she swam into the surface of the world, above the underwater kingdom that they lived in. She then found a prince, and fell madly in love with him that she was willing to lose her tail, and made a vow with the Sea Witch. However, the prince married another girl,  so the little mermaid, brokenhearted, dissolved into foam and she turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air.

The original story isn’t really a happy ending, though the little mermaid turned into a spirit instead of becoming a sea foam and cease to exist. Based on the story, we know that she got what she wanted, which are legs, but ended up frustrated, being not able to marry the man she loves.

At some point of our life, we may be like Jephthah and the little mermaid. We are so desperate about something, that our heart will explode if we can’t have it, and that we will do anything just to get that thing or to achieve something. We don’t even consult God whether we need that particular thing or not. And most of the time, we ended up frustrated and regretful that we thought to ourselves, “I shouldn’t have done that.” or “If only I could turn back time.” This kind of practice only shows that we don’t really trust God, that we don’t believe that He will fulfill all of His promises to us. It also shows how immature we are with our faith. Increasing our faith isn’t the solution to comply with God’s instruction, but having a genuine faith. Just like in books, it’s not about the thickness of the book, but it’s about the content.

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