Three Scores and Ten

Painting by Tan Soh Beng

 

"What is your life? You are like a mist that appears for a while and then vanishes. In the morning it springs like new but by evening it is dry and withered." James 4:14 and Psalm 90:10  

Today is my 70th birthday. I have reached the Biblical watershed of Age, three scores and ten. I do not feel old yet and believe that there will be many more good years of service for God and the church. Consider James 4:13, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live. 

I hope I have lived well. Scripture describes living well as a person who is like a tree planted by the waterside. 'Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God. Instead, they find joy in obeying the law of the Lord and they study it day and night. They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do. Psalm 1:1-3

A man's life is valued by how close he has walked with God, the family he has brought up and the friends he has made and kept through many years. One does not leave behind any great legacies, only lasting memories. On that score, I am a very fortunate man, as this video of birthday greetings will attest, I have many faithful friends.

So what lies ahead? J I Packer in his book, Finishing Our Course With Joy wrote "Some grow old gracefully, meaning, fully in the grip of the grace of God. Increasingly they display a well-developed understanding with a well formed character: firm, resilient and unyielding, with a firm sense of proportion and abundant resources for upholding and mentoring others." (Ref 1)

Packer introduced the idea of Spiritual Ripeness. He wrote, "Spiritual ripeness is worth far more than material wealth in any form, and that spiritual ripeness should continue to increase as one gets older. The Bible's view is that aging, under God and by grace, will bring wisdom, that is, an enlarged capacity for discerning, choosing and encouraging." 

My buddy, Edmund Lee introduced me to a song by Alan Jackson entitled 'The Older I Get'.  

The older I get

The more I think

You only get a minute, better live while you’re in it

'Cause it’s gone in a blink

And the older I get

The truer it is

It’s the people you love, not the money and stuff

That makes you rich

And if they found a fountain of youth

I wouldn’t drink a drop and that’s the truth

Funny how it feels I’m just getting to my best years yet

The older I get

The fewer friends I have

But you don’t need a lot when the ones that you got

Have always got your back

And the older I get

The better I am

At knowing when to give

And when to just not give a damn

And if they found a fountain of youth

I wouldn’t drink a drop and that’s the truth

Funny how it feels I’m just getting to my best years yet

The older I get

And I don’t mind all the lines

From all the times I’ve laughed and cried

Souvenirs and little signs of the life I’ve lived

The older I get

The longer I pray

I don’t know why, I guess that I

Got more to say

And the older I get

The more thankful I feel

For the life I’ve had, and all the life I’m living still

In a country and western catchy tune we are told that Aging with God should be the principle of our next lap. Like Alan Jackson, J I Packer gave three advice:

First, live for God one day at a time. We should acquire the habit of keeping God informed every morning and reviewing before God as each day closes.

Second, live in the present moment. Packer said to get into the way of practicing God's presence. Get God into the picture of our day and cultivate divine companionship moment by moment.

Third, live ready to go when Christ comes for us. As far as we can put our lives in order and get right with God day by day. Then we will always be prepared. 

And so I hope to journey on under the guiding hands of God. This is God's promise. (Proverbs 2:5-6 and 9-11)

'Then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom; 

from His mouth come knowledge and understanding

Then you will understand what is right and just and fair

- for every good path

For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge

will be pleasant to your soul

Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you.'

 

Lionel

Ref 1: J I Packer. Finishing Our Course With Joy - Guidance from God for Engaging with our Aging. Crossway 2014

The Blame Game

Straits Times Illustration: Miel

'Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?' Job 2:10

Who takes responsibility for the Covid-19 pandemic? In the anniversary of the pandemic it has devastated public health, hospitals and economies around the world. By 14 Mar 2021 it has claimed 120,033,813 victims and 2,658,861 lives. There were plenty of blame -  countries blaming countries, people blaming governments, citizens blaming each other. Was it a failure of public health? We are all playing the blame game. 

The modern world seems unable to accept disasters. We see ourselves as being able to improve the world, able to control its destiny. We see God as being obligated to arrange things for the good of this world to everyone's benefit. Hence when things go wrong some blame God. Every new major tragedy evokes the same kind of public questions and challenges to faith; questioning God and even blaming Him in the face of the disaster. 

It may be easier for many of us who are bystanders to the Covid Pandemic to just become oblivious to it although we may realise that it has changed society and the way we live. But for those who were infected or who have lost loved ones, the suffering is real. 

Considering the experience of Job, Charles Swindoll (ref 1), wrote 

• There are days too dark for the sufferer to see light
• There are experiences too extreme for the hurting to have hope
• There are valleys too deep for the anguished to find relief. 

No wonder people lay blame for their difficulties and some blame God.  

The disastrous experience of Job and his family, evoked Job's wife to enter into the Blame Game. She said to Job, "Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!" Job 2:9

The self righteous friends of Job posited that Job's suffering was his fault, Job was not right with God.  

Job replied to these accusations with a profound question, "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" Job 2:10. The suffering was so hideous that Job came close to blaming God and he questioned His Maker but he eventually refused to lay any blame on anyone, least of all on God.

But the whole world will still ask questions of this plague and finding fault. 

In the book 'Walking with God through pain and suffering' (Ref 1) Timothy Keller introduced the position of Peter Berger that every society and culture must make sense of the suffering and disaster inflicted on them. 

Peter saw in the Bible two ways of resolving this inner and eternal struggle:

• The Suffering of Job. Here we have the most difficult and severe truth, that in the face of disasters and suffering in this world we cannot question God. When Job, attempting to find a reason for the calamity, asked God to explain the sorrows and griefs that had come upon him, God's response was Job had no right to pose the question in the first place.

• The Solution of Christ. Against the harsh reality of Job's experience which many would be unable to understand nor withstand, there is a second position, Jesus Christ who came to suffer for all. In this suffering, Christ provided empathy, sympathy and comfort for all subsequent sufferers so that we can withstand and understand the disasters that may befall us.

Timothy Keller wrote, 'The book of Job rightly points to human unworthiness and finitude and calls for complete surrender to the sovereignty of God. But taken by itself the call might seem more than a sufferer could bear. Then the New Testament comes filled with an unimaginable comfort for those who are trusting in God's sovereignty. The sovereign God Himself came down into this world and experienced its darkness. He personally drank the cup of suffering down to the dregs. And He did it not to justify himself but to justify us, that is to bear the suffering, death and curse for the sin that we have earned. He takes the punishment on Himself so that someday He can return and end all the evil (and plagues) without having to condemn and punish us. God voluntarily become weak and plunges Himself into vulnerability and darkness out of love for us.' 

God is with us in this pandemic.  How Great Thou Art! 

Lionel

Ref 1: Charles Swindoll. Job, A Man of Heroic Endurance. Thomas Nelson 2004

Ref 2: Timothy Keller. Walking with God through Pain and suffering. Hodder and Stoughton 2013