Aug 10, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
The broad shoulders of God. Psalm 55:22. As Christians, we live our lives between two poles of reality. The first pole is the sovereignty of God who rules over everything and the second pole is the existence of life’s difficulties. We know that God is sovereign, good, faithful and able. Yet we also know that life has seasons of hardship when grief thrusts its piercing dagger into our lives and we desperately pray for God’s immediate intervention. If God doesn’t act within our timeframe, we can be left feeling disappointed, anxious and ruffled. We struggle! On the one hand we want to trust our God because we know He is everything He claims to be. Yet on the other hand, we battle with the pain of circumstances and wonder why God doesn’t always immediately rescue us from our greatest heartaches and fears. It is at this crossroad we are reminded of the broad shoulders of God and His invitation for us to lament or to honestly cry out to Him as we try to reconcile these two realities. The broad shoulders of God are where we wrestle, assured He won’t abandon us and confident that it is on God’s broad shoulders He also carries us in crisis, and often in ways we will never fully grasp. He is always warring on our behalf.
As we go to the Psalms, we find our voices echoed in the numerous lament Psalms. We see that the broad shoulders of God, spread wide before our humanity is where He invites us to lay our burdens down. When we are wrestling and thrashing in the ashes of difficulty and we want to yell and scream about our pain to God because He hasn’t yet met our expectations and we lack understanding, God leans down into our mess and gives us permission to fire off our questions, release our bitter cries, plead for His help, rest in His arms, and trust Him in the dark until He turns on the light. He kindly invites us to enter the courtrooms of His Kingdom where He graciously allows us to put Him in the dock, permitting us to cross-examine Him as to why He hasn’t acted the way we want. Yet at no point does He silence us or call for the angelic bailiffs to take us into custody. No question we ask will take Him by surprise. He knows we want to trust Him, but He also knows every anxious thought that puts us in a tailspin. The broad shoulders of God enable us to safely grow in faith.
It is for our benefit that we get to rest and lament on the broad shoulders of God. Lament is not about wading around in the tainted wells of our troubles or lingering in the shadows of suffering. Rather, lament is the way we draw close to our Father, laying our complaints before Him but still trusting He is no less God because He hasn’t yet answered. God will always answer, but His answer will be in His perfect timing and for maximum benefit. As we give Him our burdens and lament, He bears our grief and reminds us the broad shoulders of God are always strong and will never grow weary.
So, friends, get on “God’s broad shoulders” today.
Best days to come.
Wen
Aug 3, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
The lens of God’s truth. A few months back I had to get a new pair of glasses. As I cycled through the varying lens options, I was aware of how much the wrong lens distorted the letters and sentences I was trying to identify and interpret. I needed the right lens to see clearly and accurately. We live in a culture that continuously applies the wrong lens for identifying reality and understanding truth. There is a growing tug-of-war between Christianity and postmodern worldviews, with the latter spewing its claim to truth and shovelling as much dirt on the life of faith as possible. Godless philosophies are shaping cultures that sit on fractured foundations. Counterfeit ideologies are erected as towers of truth. Society has welcomed borderless morals and humans are sitting on their thrones as autonomous kings, confidently claiming there is no God.
More than ever, we need the lens of God’s truth, His Word to shape our lives so we become like a living lens that helps others to focus on a correct view of reality. You and I are carriers of God’s truth as we live in and live out His story, assisting the lost to interpret life through the lens of God’s truth (1 John 4:1-6). We embody His truth in our words and actions. As we hold up the lens of God’s truth, we give others an authentic opportunity to take a look at life from God’s perspective and to reorientate their lives to Him, so life can be lived the way God designed and intended it. We have a big responsibility and a big role to play. We must continually take up the cause of the Kingdom and ask, am I holding up the lens of God’s truth to help others see Jesus clearly?
We live in an age, where more than any other time, God is marginalised and people lack meaning, purpose, and destiny, whilst encountering a confused sense of identity. Humanity is orientated around themselves and only see life through the cracked lens of a human perspective. They are asking questions, but they are settling for the lie. Tragically, their lives are being short-changed as they hang their hopes on philosophies of falsehood. But what a change you and I can make as we partner with God and position the lens of God’s truth to help others look through and discover the coherence and wonder of the Biblical worldview that can lead them to their Lord and Saviour, Jesus. Bethe lens of God’s truth!
So, friends, get your “God lens” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
Jul 27, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
Jesus gets in our mess and turns our ashes into beauty. Isaiah 61:1-3. As children, one of our favourite toys was a kaleidoscope. Kaleidoscopes are made up of angled mirrors and coloured glass fragments, crushed beads, confetti, and shreds of ribbon, all housed in a cylindrical barrel. When the barrel turns, the fragmented pieces move and reflect unique, beautiful patterns in the rotating mirrors. When we think about life, although the world is a place of beauty, love, joy, laughter, and delight, it is also a place of mess. As the kaleidoscope of life turns and the fragmented pieces of disappointment, heartache, difficulty, pain, and suffering all rotate in the barrel of time, Jesus gets in our mess and turns our ashes into beauty and uses the things that can break us to change us to reflect His image.
The very fact that Jesus gets in our mess and turns our ashes into beauty is a miraculous gift. The biggest mess our humanity faces is the deep ditch of sin and separation from our maker. We forget that this is a ditch we could never have gotten out of apart from Jesus. We can get so used to hearing the story of Jesus and the incarnation that we lose sight of the monumental act of love on the part of Jesus to save us from our ravaged, sinful state. It is almost inconceivable that the Monarch of God’s kingdom, Jesus who is perfect, would join us in this mess to save and restore us. In exchanging His glory for human mess, He got down into the dirt and squalor of human wreckage as an act of sheer love. So, He knows the mess firsthand. As a by-product of His saving act, Jesus keeps getting in our mess every day and turns our ashes into beauty.
What a tender, beautiful, love-smitten Saviour we have. He takes every tangled mess of heartache and mends the frayed edges. He kneels with us in our private ‘Gethsemane gardens’ when we plead for Him to ‘remove this cup’ and intercedes when words fail us. He walks with us on our hidden pathways of failure and redirects us into His passage of grace. He gets into the fiery furnace of suffering with us and soaks us in His love and faithfulness. He takes the fragmented pieces of disappointment and rebuilds us into fine vessels. He gets into the deep well of loss and pours His healing balm upon our tattered hearts. Jesus gets in our mess and turns our ashes into beauty and as all the messy pieces in our lives continually move, He takes our mess, refines us and creates new patterns of beauty that reflect His character in us.
So, friends get your ‘beauty for ashes’ on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
Jul 20, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
This too shall pass. With the recent resurgence of the pandemic crossing over the borders of our lives again, we are reminded that we live in a world where difficulty drops in and etches its scars on our lives. One moment we are on top of the mountain and the next moment, the unwanted intruder of affliction invades, and we find ourselves in the valley of hardship. When difficulty mounts its campaign against us, we feel like our plans, dreams, and longings are all corralled into the pens of restriction. We want to rid ourselves of the ball and chain of trials and restraint.
Difficulty makes us feel like we have been cast in an inferno of affliction and as we look through the thick smoke of adversity and find no clarity or ending in sight, we wonder, how long will this season last? 1 Peter 5:10 reminds us that this too shall pass and after we have endured the fire for a season, God will bring us through with a refined character that has produced resolute faith. It’s messy! We wrestle! We don’t always have answers! We feel the pain! We don’t know how long! But we do have a Saviour who points us to His truth, that this too shall pass.
The enemy of our soul is always prowling around looking for opportunities to light fires that will derail our faith. He makes us feel that these trials will never pass. His intention is to burn our faith alive. He wants maximum damage and total destruction (1 Peter 5:8-9). But Jesus tells us He is in the fire with us, blowing on the embers of our faith and fanning us into an even greater flame that will burn brightly. Jesus refines us in the fire and affirms that in every fiery furnace of affliction, there is a sparkling jewel of faith to be found. Jesus is committed to the refinement of our faith. He bears with us in hard times, and He will not move. He reminds us this too shall pass. And when it all passes, Jesus picks up this gemstone that has formed in the fire, He dusts off the ashes, fuses it into our character and crafts a place for it in our eternal crowns. Whatever you are facing, this too shall pass.
So, friends, get your “this too shall pass” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
Jun 22, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
“Fear not”. Isaiah 41:10. The Bible consistently declares “fear not” or do not fear. “Fear not” is a very big statement for those of us on the listening end, but it is never made independent of the One who makes the proclamation: God! Every time God tells us not to be afraid, He also reminds us of who He is and what He will do.* It is a unique statement that only God can make. He is the only one capable of saying “fear not” because only He has all power and authority over every dominion, including fear and only God is able to deliver us from this unwanted stalker; fear!
When God says “fear not”, firstly, there is an assumption that we humans will inevitably feel fearful at times because we live in a shattered world where the broken pieces will leave their score marks on our lives when we face disaster, difficulty or disease. Suffering in any form or feeling threatened can make us wilt or cower in fear. Secondly, however, God knows that the job description of the enemy is to steal, kill and destroy us and one of the biggest weapons in the armoury of the enemy is fear. The enemy is lurking, ready at any given moment to unzipper and unleash a mountain of fear on us, with the definitive intent of causing us to shift our focus from God and on to the circumstances that threaten us. If he can lead us into the dark night of fear and make us feel like we are standing, shivering on the precipice of terror, he is well on the way to doing his foul job. The enemy will actively try to put the ball and chain of fear on us, causing us to question God, to feel like God has abandoned us, or that we cannot trust God. The enemy would also be extremely happy to give us that final push off the cliff that may cause us to reject God. Yet, God wants us to dwell safely in the wide open fields of His love, truth, peace and light, where He comes to us as our Maker and our Father, holds His lamp of promise up and illuminates our path with hope. God will use every circumstance to draw us close, nestle us under His wing of protection and remind us there is never a moment that He is not for us and will act on our behalf. The enemy may scare us with the weapons of his choice but the weapons in God’s armoury will blow the enemy out of the water every time.
God is aware we will feel fearful in this life when difficult situations press in. “Fear not” doesn’t mean we won’t feel fear. What it does mean is we must not turn the door handle and permit it entry so it becomes a “house guest”. We must actively shift our footing from being attentive to fear, to activating faith. Our confidence comes from knowing and trusting who God is and affirming the truth of His promises. Rise up! Take up the Sword of the Spirit and slash fear into pieces in the resurrection power of Jesus who came to destroy the works of the enemy. 1 John 3:8. Right there are two weapons you can pick up, declaring “in Jesus name, I will fear not”.
So, friends, get your “fear not” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
*(take a moment to read as many Scripture verses as you can about God in relation to fear and you will see that God always reveals who He is and what difference He will make. For example Isaiah 41:10 God says fear not! Who is God? He is OUR God, bringing all He is to bear on our circumstances with his victorious right hand. What will He do? He will strengthen, help, and uphold us.
Jun 15, 2021 | Wens Pen
Hello Everyone
In plain sight. Hebrews 4:13 tells us that nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is in plain sightto Him. This is both confronting and comforting. On the one hand, it is confronting to know that God knows and sees everything about our lives. We wonder, how can He love me if He sees the worst about me? Will I be enough? It is rather intense that He sees into every nook and cranny of our beings; every thought that crosses our minds and every move we make whether our intentions are good or not so good. He knows all the issues that make us feel like we are somehow wearing a dog tag of shame; things that are so painful that we hide them behind a vaulted door that no one can open, fearing rejection from God and others. He sees us wear our best badge of honour and our attempts to keep it well polished. He sees the nice things like acts of kindness and mercy. He sees the love and service we show to others. He sees the deep gashes on our hearts that have left lifetime scars that we believe define us and make us unlovely. He sees what we hang onto that we should let go. He knows the fears that assault us and put us in the grip of anxiety. He knows every breach of trust and how we navigate the murky waters of offense. He sees us when we are nice and when we are not nice. Everything is in plain sight to God.
On the other hand, it is an incredible comfort to know that whilst everything about us is in plain sight to God, nothing can make Him love us more or less. There are no shifting sands with God. The best and the worst about us do not deter or change God’s love and acceptance. This truth means the enemy can never find us crawling around the wide-open spaces of insecurity, wondering if we do better can we earn more stripes with God. No! We are found positioned, qualified and unruffled in the safety and shelter of the most high God. God’s unbreakable commitment to us puts a chain on every lion the enemy seeks to unleash upon us to undermine our faith. These lions may bear their teeth, making us fearful that God will stop loving us, protecting us or acting on our behalf unless we somehow prove ourselves worthy, but God has nullified every attack and accusation by loving us perfectly, in plain sight, knowing the best and the worst about us. On that note, I’m humbled and thankful that God loves us in plain sight.
So, friends, get your “sight” on today.
Best days to come.
Wen
