My dear readers,
1. “Dwelling in tabernacles”
Our home in Andrew Road is well known to friends and many Christian groups. During the years we lived there, it was the venue of fellowships, retreats, Sunday School outings and countless other blessed activities.
In 1997, after thirty-five memorable years, we moved to an apartment in Dalvey Road, sorry to say goodbye to the old family house, but happy to enjoy condominium convenience, free from the burden of a landed property.
We told ourselves, “Now let’s stay here till we go.” How wrong! Our top storey apartment suffered unending leaks from a porous roof, spoiling our otherwise “most liveable dwelling.” So we moved to another condo, this time “for keeps.” Surely this will be our final stopping place. Superstitious people envied our address: 18 Anderson Road, Apt 18-01. What a combination of “lucky numbers!”
We have been here since June 2004, when the current “en bloc” re-development fever caught up with the “lucky address” 18 Anderson. Singapore is in the throes of an “en bloc epidemic,” sweeping the island. Apartment blocks, new and old, are falling like ninepins everywhere. Beneficial apartment owners are laughing all the way to the bank.
What does the reader think of all this? As Christians and pilgrims on our way to the Celestial City, we need not be surprised or perturbed. Like Abraham, here we have no “continuing city,” only “tabernacles” to give us affordable comfort during our wilderness sojourn. The Lord is our dwelling place in all generations (Ps 90:1).
When do we move from here? Answer: When the en bloc exercise is complete, which may take some time. Then it will be for good! But again, who knows?
Today we conclude our serialization of the article from the Bible League of America; thank God for His comforting words.
2. Confidence
Hope springs eternal in the heart of the child of God. Nothing is ever hopeless when your ways are committed to your heavenly Father. God’s power is unlimited; His goodness knows no measure; His mercy knows no end. No matter what news the day may bring you, therefore, you can accept it with quiet confidence. For nothing whatever will happen to you beyond your Father’s loving control. Your Father constantly watches over you. Not one hair of your head will fall to the ground without His will! Your confidence for the future is built upon an unmoveable foundation.
“But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine” (Isa 43:1).
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt 10:29-31).
3. Healing
God has made you in such a wonderful way that your sick and tired body often restores itself. Sometimes God heals you through the use of medicine, through surgery, or through special treatment. Sometimes God heals you directly in answer to special prayer. However, it may happen that you get well. It is God who is the Great Physician. So when you are well again, and when you give thanks to all who have helped you during your time of illness, remember to thank the Great Physician first of all – and above all! And then use your healed body joyfully to serve the Lord!
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night” (Psa 92:1-2).
“For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands” (Psa 92:4).
“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isa 40:29-31).
4. Comfort
Someone once wrote: My only comfort both in life and in death, is that I am not my own, but belong body and soul to my faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ. If you are able to say that, then no matter what happens, you can rest in peace. Whether you get well quickly or slowly, whether you get well completely or only in part, or even whether or not you get well at all, you will be at peace with God. To belong to Jesus Christ is to be a child of God. To be a child of God is to be accepted by God, to be forgiven by God, to be loved by God. That is comfort!
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (Jn 14:27).
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isa 26:3).
5. Invitation
Throughout this discussion we have been assuming that you are a child of God. Some of you, however, may not yet have come to know Christ personally. You very much want the blessings of comfort and assurance and peace which are described in these pages. God invites you to receive them! Accept that gracious invitation by praying the following prayer or a similar prayer of your own. “Father, I humbly come to You in Jesus’ Name, asking You to fill my longing heart. Please take away all my sins, and fill my life with Your love and peace. I trust You to do this because of what Jesus did for me when He suffered and died and rose again. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
Lovingly in the Lord
Dr SH Tow, Senior Pastor