Wait and Hope

Hello All,

Can you recall the last time you had lost all hope in a bleak situation?

You had done everything within the little ‘power’ that you had but all your efforts seemed wasted. It is usually at this point that we think of turning to God in prayer, although that should be the first thing we do in a crisis.

When all our earthly resources are spent to no avail and all hope seems gone, it is comforting to be reminded of our God who is in control of all things.

Wait and Hope

By Joanne Liaw Sook Ling

The unfathomable ways of the Lord

Are beyond our finite understanding

What we know is His Word, the Spirit’s sword

In life’s uncertainties, we can still sing

The unfathomable ways of heaven

Bring our anxious, weary soul to its knees

Our lives may be shattered, our hearts broken

But our hopes and prayers, God knows and sees

The unfathomable ways of the Father

Set our confounding confusion at rest

His perfect wisdom is like no other

He refines and prunes us through trials and tests

With all that is unsolved in our hearts

With all the ambiguity of the future

Love and mercy, God graciously imparts

We’re saved by His grace, of this we can be sure

Until we see our Saviour face to face

We can trust Him as we climb this steep slope

Till He reveals the future by His grace

Until then, we patiently wait and hope

Points for Reflection:

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word, I hope;

(Psalms 130:5 ESV)

·       God often (and almost always) does not work things according to our expectations. He is much wiser than us and His ways are infinitely higher. We do not have the full picture but He does.

·       When Jesus died an excruciating death on the cross, His disciples lost all hope. But their hope was renewed and reawakened when they saw their resurrected Saviour whose only way of saving them from their sins was through the shame and pain of the cross.

·       God brings good out of evil, even if we cannot see the good in the evil that has befallen us. But let us continue bringing our hopes to God in prayer and committing all outcomes into His sovereign hands.

·       Until God reveals the future to us, let us wait and hope.

·       ‘Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, “Wait and Hope.”’ - Alexandre Dumas

The Sacred Shore of Certainty

Hello All,

The shoreline is an unsettling boundary to be hovering over. There is great uncertainty in how high the tide can rise or how far it recedes. The crashing waves upon the shore bring us much fear of the unknown.

We feel helpless in the face of uncertainty. We have so little control over our future. All we can do is watch the sea engulf the castles we have been building.

It is on the shoreline of uncertainty that we realise the impermanence and fragility of life. It is on this shoreline that God calls us to the sacred shore of certainty.

The Sacred Shore of Certainty

By Joanne Liaw Sook Ling

The clouds are looming; the sky is dimming

The tides are rising; my heart is racing

The pounding waves are rolling towards me

Here is the shoreline of uncertainty

On this sacred shoreline, I am kneeling

With helpless hands folded, I am praying

The pounding waves are rolling towards me

Here is the shoreline of uncertainty

Against the pounding waves, I am crying

In the darkness, on God, I’m depending

The pounding waves are washing over me

My body immersed in uncertainty

I am powerless; I can do nothing

I am helpless, but to God’s grace, I cling

I have loved and lost, but He comforts me

He leads me to the shore of certainty

He’s saved and redeemed me, so I can sing

In sadness and sorrow, much joy He brings

I am His beloved child; He loves me

Here I stand on the shore of certainty

Points for Reflection:

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8:38-39 ESV)

·       The Apostle Paul expresses absolute certainty in the inseparable and everlasting love of God in Christ Jesus.

·       Even if you have lost everything and everyone you treasured in this world, you will never lose the love of God. He is there to help you pull through the difficult times, even when all hope seems lost.

·       What uncertainties are you struggling with? Does the future bring you much fear?

·       I am powerless; I can do nothing. I am helpless, but to God’s grace, I cling. I have loved and lost, but He comforts me. He leads me to the shore of certainty.

·       He’s saved and redeemed me, so I can sing. In sadness and sorrow, much joy He brings. I am His beloved child; He loves me. Here I stand on the shore of certainty.

·       C.S. Lewis said, ‘He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.’ Of this, we can be certain.

Leaving the Past Behind

Hello All,

What does it mean to leave the past behind?

This frequently uttered phrase often feels so abstract. Many would consider it a stale idea, a cliché often recited in movies and novels.

But the fact is, past experiences often stalk us in our conscious and unconscious minds and affect the way we feel and respond to the present. The past often feels like a shadow that looms over the present.  

Leaving the Past Behind

By Joanne Liaw Sook Ling

I'm leaving the past behind me

I'm casting hurts into the sea

I'm giving my regrets to God

Who guides me with His staff and rod

I'm leaving the past behind me

I'm releasing painful memories

To Jesus, I commit my past

On Him, my sin and shame, I cast

I stepped upon the shore of hope

No longer am I bound by ropes

Christ has unravelled the tight knots

My battles, He has bravely fought

I was a captive bound in chains

Broken by hurts, filthy with shame

For my sins, I could not atone

I was in anguish and alone

But through the cross, Christ set me free

My past has now no hold on me

My future is glowing bright

For I am walking in the light

Points for Reflection:

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 3:13-14 ESV)

·       Are there memories you are struggling to contain? Are there regrets, hurts, shame, and guilt that run too deep? Are there wounds you are trying to cover up and deny? Do you try to drown those nightmares in entertainment, pleasures, substance, work, or other means to numb the pain? Is the past consuming you?

·       We are broken people with a tainted past. We cannot save ourselves. But the good news is we don’t have to.

·       We have a Saviour who has wiped away the sin and guilt of our past. He has taken our filth and shame upon Himself on the cross. He has given us a new start on a clean slate. We are now righteous and holy, not because of the good deeds we have done, but because of Jesus’s loving sacrifice.

·       In this life, we will be disappointed, but we do not lose hope. In this life, we will get hurt, but we do not stop loving others with God’s love. In this life, we will be rejected, but we do not stop reaching out to others for we have been accepted by the grace of God.

·       The past hurts. But in God’s eyes, the sins of our past are no more. With such comforting knowledge, we can commit our past to God with all its brokenness. With time, God will help us to let go of the past and fix our eyes on Him as we run the race with courage and confidence in the prize that awaits us when we see Him face to face.

The Foggy Future

Hello All,

Sometimes it feels as if our future is shrouded in a thick, dense fog.

The uncertainty of our future feels unsettling and many of us seek closure to the convoluted issues in our lives.

Very often, we find that many issues remain unresolved, like the unresolved ending of a music piece that does not end on its tonic chord. The cliffhangers we see in movies are often undesirable agonies in real life.

The Foggy Future

By Joanne Liaw Sook Ling

I do not know what lies ahead

The path is cloaked in mystery

A thick fog clouds my weary head

The future spells uncertainty

I craned my neck to get a glimpse

A glimpse of the foggy future

In agony, I sighed and winced

Some things in life can't be insured

I do not know what lies ahead

But God knows every mystery

On Christ, I rest my weary head

To Him, there's no uncertainty

Points for Reflection:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

(Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV)

·       We are plagued with uncertainties because we are not omniscient; we are not all-knowing. However, in our uncertainties, we can find great comfort in an omniscient God who is not only all-knowing but loving. It is in our limitations that we find strength in His infinite grace.

·       We may be uncertain about many things in life but we can be certain about our identity in Christ. We who were once God’s enemies have been reconciled to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. We are now His friends and beloved children.

·       Despite the uncertainties we face as we travel along this foggy road, we know our future and heavenly destination.

·       Until then, we wait and hope for things yet unseen.