I have a driver’s licence from Singapore and I drove occasionally there.

  When I came to Joliet (Illinois), I started to find out about acquiring a driver’s licence here. I was told to go to the Secretary of State to take the written test there and possibly a practical test. I know that the licence I have from Singapore is an international licence but just was not sure how things work here for people like me. Eventually I found out from the handbook that I may drive with that licence for 90 days. After which I have to take the written and practical driving test.

So, I took the written test and passed for the first time. All were multiple choice questions and the paper was marked on the spot and we knew the result of the test almost immediately after the test. I had to pay 20 dollars for the driving permit.

Taking the practical test was more difficult. So far, I flung the practical 2 times already. It took me some time to get used to left hand drive driving. All vehicles from Singapore are right hand drive but it is left hand drive in US. I guess I can attribute my failures to: 1) Lack of practice 2) Not familiar with the road conditions. The latter reason accounted for my second time failing. But there are only 2 test routes and I went through both of them, hopefully things will turn out better on my third try. I have 6 tries in one year. Thank God I don’t  have to pay for the test.

So I learned that it is God’s will for me to fail the driving test and I know it is for my own good …

Romans 8:28:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose - niv

maybe so that I will be a better driver? One thing I learned was always to give way to pedestrians. I was given an immediate failure on my first attempt for failing to give way to pedestrian at the driving center. One of the things that impressed me of American drivers is that they always give way to pedestrians and they are very polite in doing so.  It took me an immediate failure to learn this trait.

John 1 v1″In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. v2He was with God in the beginning” - niv

Meditations:

1) The Gospel of John began by describing Jesus as the Word . Cross reference to Revelations 19:13 - “He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God”

2) Jesus was with God in the beginning. Cross reference to John 17:5 - “And now, father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began”

3) Jesus was God and still is God. Cross reference to Philippians 2:6-7 - “Who, being in nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped with, but made himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

4) God the Holy Spirit was also there at the beginning of the world as in Genesis 1:2. v2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Concept of trinity at the beginning of the world illustrated by John 1:1-2 and Genesis 1:2

5) Conept of trinity illustrated further by 1 John 5:7 in kjv

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

However this verse is different in niv.

7For there are three that testify: 8the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement

Recounting the moments when my son (2 years 10 months old) was misbehaving:

1) Refusing to put on his clothes after his bath

2) Refusing to change clothes/putting on his shoes when we are about to go out and we have to catch a bus

3) Tumbling the chair over

4) Throwing my watch onto the floor

5) Making a mess of the clothes after we have folded them and about to put them into our closet

6) Pouring milk onto the floor and playing with the spilt milk

7) Pushing and shoving the curtains in the living room. Now, a few of the curtain flaps cannot be turned

8 ) Refusing to brush his teeth

9) Unrolling the toilet paper from its holder

10) Pushing the plastic container which he could sit in around the house. And he will be pushing the container fast, hammering the flooring edge at the fringe of the living room going to the kitchen.

Everytime he misbehaved, I would threaten to spank him. I would give him a warning before spanking him. When he was younger he tested me by repeating his behaviour after my threat and I spanked him real hard on his buttocks. Now, he knows I mean business when I threaten to spank him. I believed it helped in changing his behaviour even though sometimes it is only temporary. However,  I do think generally he is better behaved nowadays, though he still need to be threatened once in a while.

Reasoning with them does not work at this age. Spanking is the best. Then he will know the consequence of misbehaving is a painful butt.

Wisdom from Proverbs 22:15:

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. (niv)

Proverbs 23:13:

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. (niv)

Luke 15: 3Then Jesus told them this parable: 4“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. -niv

Meditations

1) This passage talks about the worth of an individual. It is more valuable in the eyes of God that one individual repents of his sins than ninety-nine who do not. He is of more worth to God than ninety-nine who do not. If we are worth that much, how much more we should come to accept ourselves as we are with all the faults that come with it. It does not matter where we are or what we have or how we look, what matters is who we are before God. We are like lost sheeps who are of great value to God.

2) This passage also talks of the heart of the shepherd. Jesus our shepherd has a similar heart. I think pastors should also emulate the heart of the shepherd in this parable. Matthew 9:36 says “36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”.  I think to heed the calling as a shepherd of God’s sheeps, one should have a compassionate heart.

3) One of my friend’s mother was baptized unto the Lord in a dialect service in Singapore Jurong Christian church recently. I rejoice with my friend and his family. After all if there should be rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents, should we not also say ‘Hallelujah’? We should sing with joy!!!!

The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry … (NIV)

The LORD will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish …(KJV)

Meditations:

1) I think the righteous in this verse refers to christians.Genesis 15:6: Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. So righteousness is credited unto us by virtue of our belief, a consequence of rather a goal to be pursued. (I mean to say that righteousness cannot be pursued alone by itself.)

2) It is comforting to know that the Lord’s hand is at work to provide for his children. Maybe the Lord has given you skills so that you are able to earn a living comfortably and feed yourselves. Or maybe the Lord provides through the State in the form of food vouchers for the poor. In any way, those who believe in the Lord will be fed. Note that this verse refers to God providing for our basic needs and not to our wants.

3) Question: Does God provide for non christians?Well, I think He does. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten son … - niv” Yes, He provided Jesus for non christians as well. If only you will just accept him to gain eternal life (1 John 5:11-12 says ”And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” - niv)

Loneliness is a human condition and any individual will experience that feeling at one time or another. It is probably experienced when you are alone or it may be experienced even when you are in a crowd or even when you have company. Perhaps you are single and most of your friends are already married and have families and spend most of the time with their families. Perhaps you are different from your companionship and feel that you do not fit in. Perhaps you are married but your spouse do not understand you and not able to put his/her foot in your shoes. Perhaps you are a homemaker with much time to spare and looking after young children. Perhaps your spouse just passed away. Perhaps your children have all grown up and have their own lives. What do you do with your time aplenty or with your companions indifferent or lack of companionship.

The circumstances may vary but the condition and feeling is the same. Some may prescribe a cure to it. Try drugs and you will feel a high. Or the advice may be less harmful like pick up a hobby and occupy your time. Or more beneficial like find your passion and you will find fulfilment.  Or find a husband/wife and set up a family. Or spend more time in developing your career. Ultimately, it is not just to occupy your time but engage your thoughts and energy as well.

Any answers from the bible? Let’s take a look at some passages.

Psalms 25:16

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted (NIV)

Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted. (KJV)

The psalmist ask God to turn to him and be gracious to him in his prayer. Yes, he prayed to God. God is omnipresent, meaning he is everywhere. This means you can pray to God anywhere, anytime and He will still hear you. But you will hear silence after your prayer, yes you will. But God answers our prayer if we ask Him (John 16:24). He may allow certain things to happen in answer to your prayer. But for that to happen, you will have to believe Him, specifically you have to ask through Jesus. And you have to ask with the right motive in the first place.

Psalms 68:6

God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing;  but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land (niv)

God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land (kjv)

Yes God will find a family for you when you are lonely. When you believe, you will be born again and will born into the family of God. All fellow believers are your family members, your brothers and sisters in christ. I am sure if a person is a true believer, he will extend his hospitality to a new believer.

Psalm 34:22

The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate (KJV)

The LORD redeems his servants;  no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him (NIV)

I like the kjv version here. It says those who trust in him shall not be desolate. As long as we trust to put ourselves into the charge of God, we will not feel lonely or abandoned. Usually the feeling of loneliness comes with other feelings like hopelessness or insecurity, rest assured that we will find hope and security if we believe in Jesus/God  and trust in him. Security because everything works out for the good of the believer, even adverse circumstances, hence there will be no fear in us. After all, if we no longer fear death, what can harm us. Hope because Jesus is now on the right hand side of God and we know we serve a living God who conquered death, hence we live each day looking toward the day Jesus will come again.

Ultimately, however, we should be looking to Jesus to fulfill the emptiness within us so that we will not thirst again. (John 7:38 - Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from him - niv)

So we see that loneliness can be alleviated if we believe and accept Jesus into our lives. In Him, we have security, direction and purpose. And spirituality engages our thoughts and energy. For all times, we can be alone and not lonely.

So start believing and start reading the bible where God’s gold and silver are and strive for things that are eternal instead of looking at temporal things!

This account states:

verse 9:On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its grain offering and drink offering of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil. verse 10: This is the burnt offering for every sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and  its drink offering.

Meditations:

Sabbath

God created the world in 6 days and on the 7th day He declared it as a rest day - The Sabbath.  As christians we are expected to observe the Sabbath (Hebrews 4:9-10). This is the day when we enter God’ s rest and also rest from our labour. For modern day christians, this means going to church and worshipping God and entering into His rest. Especially for young christians, this day is very important to recharge the ’energy’. Having worked for 5 or 6 days in the week when surrounded by secular environment, the born again nature needs to retune to God’s frequency on Sunday (typically)  so that there will be enough ‘energy’ to last for another week. If this is not the case, then I will question whether that young christian have ever tried living a Christ-centered life throughtout the whole week.

Sabbath offerings

In this account, burnt offering for sabbath is offered in addition to the regular burnt offering. In our modern day context, I will suppose the correspondng equivalent will be our tithes or our service to our church. The bible teaches us that we should give with a cheerful heart (2 Corinthians 9:7). But what if we only give what we don’t want, then it will not be of value to us and it will not please God. What pleases God is our attitude and not the amount (Mark 12: 41 to 44). And if we are to give of our service in church, we should also cheerfully discharge of it.

Making an effort

The Israelites exerted a lot of effort in making the offerings to God as commanded to them. It is a command to them and they have to exert the effort to prepare the offerings. For our part, are we exerting our efforts also? Have you exerted an effort to go to church to go into God’s rest? Have you exerted an effort to find our more about God’s truth in the bible? Make a willing effort to please God for what will count for eternity.

Offering done through the priest

During the times in numbers, the offerings, whether daily offerings or sabbath offerings or any kind of offerings were done through the priest on behalf of the people. After Jesus came, He became our high priest (Hebrews 4:14) and all we have to do is to utter our prayers in Jesus name to access to God the Father.

This account is about the command that God gave to the Israelites through Moses about daily offering. The Israelites are to offer 2 lambs a year old without defect as a regular burnt offering each day. One lamb is to be offered in the morning and the other at twilight. Accompanying the burnt offering are the grain offering and drink offering. These offerings are to be offered up at appointed times of the day.

Meditations::

Commandments in Old Testament v Commandments in New Testament

1) Above describes a command about daily offering in addition to the ten commandments. There are many commands given to the Israelites by God through Moses. When Jesus came, he brought with him a new era and the 2 greatest commandments in the new era as in Matt 22:36-39. First commandment: Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Second commandment: Love your neighbour as yourself. After 2000 years, we are still in the new era. If we are able to obey the 2 greatest commandments in the New Teatament, we should have no problem obeying the ten commandments. The commands with regards to the offerings will no longer apply in the new era. (Romans 8:3-4)

Daily Burnt Offerings v Daily thought offerings

2) Consider this, during the times in numbers, Israelites have to offer daily burnt offerings. After Jesus came, we can offer our thougts as an offering to God daily, in fact any time that we want (v specified times duirng the days in old testament).

It is possible because we have direct access to the throne of God via Jesus. Although we are sinful people and our thoughts are naturally unholy, we can offer up our thoughts to God after the Holy Spirit within us prompts us to confess our sinful thoughts and make it a thought offering through the blood of Jesus. (1Peter 1:16 says we should be holy just as God is holy).

This is called prayer. Note that prayer can just be thinking our thoughts and offering it to God versus the traditional way of uttering it with our mouth.

Sacrifical Lamb versus Lamb of God

The sacrifice for the daily offering is a physical lamb but when Jesus came, he was known as the lamb of God (John 1:29). This is because God sacrificed His Son to take away the sins of the world and hence Jesus is known as the lamb of God. This concept has to do with reconciling God’s Justice with God’s love. Because God is a just God, He will punish us if we sin agaiinst Him. But God loves us as much as He hates sin, hence he needed a lamb without defect, in this case Jesus to die on the cross, so that sin came through one man in adam is taken away through one man, Jesus. He bore the physical crucifixion to die a painful death and endure the physical pain which represents the sins of the whole world, including those who came before Jesus and those who came after Jesus. That is why those who came before Jesus look forward to His grace while those who came after Jesus look backward to His grace.

In this account, Phinehas drove a spear through Zimri and Cozbi and was honoured by the Lord for his zealousness for God’s honour.

The setting was before Israelites entered the Promised Land. Isralites men were seduced by Moabite women and sexual immorality was rife. God send plague to the Israelites and 24,000 died because of that. Zimri brought a Midianite women into the the Israelites assembly and Phinehas killed both of them and was honoured. Phinehas stopped the plague as a result.

Israel worshipped other gods as a result of seduction from Moabites women and God’s anger burned against them.

Lessons Learnt:

1) Sexual sins is ever present. It was there then. It is present also at our age. man’s nature has not changed all this time. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

2) Phinehas was honoured when he was zealous for God’s honour. We should also learn to be zealous of God’s honour in our daily actions. Learn to be angry because God’s name is disdained.

3) God was angry and send a plague. Sometimes disasters happen because of people’s sin, especially when God has shown His graciousness and people take that for granted. God has shown His mercy to Israelites and yet they still sin against him again and again. A stiff necked people as Israelites.

4) We should be careful who we relate to especially those who are close to us. Israelites related to Moabite women and they pulled them over to worship their god. Ungodly companionship pull us away from God.

5) Phinehas actions were extreme. He killed for God’s honour. Exodus 20:13 the ten commandments says you shall not murder but Phinehas has killed someone. He has broken the ten commandment to honour God. How do we explain this? To me, it just shows God’s honour should take important precedence in our life. It should matter greatly to us. It also show us that we should not follow rules because they are rules. We should place God’s honour above the rules. For men’s chief end is to glorify God. It also shows that Zimri’s actions were punishable by death and probably he broke the first commandment Ex 20:3 You shall have no other gods before me. If anybody has other opinion, please comment.