WHISPERS FROM ABOVE
Title: Whispers from Above
Materials: Ink on paper
Description: Handwritten calligraphy of verses that were spoken to the artist.
Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.”
Sometimes we read familiar passages over and over again, yet fail to see, much less gaze at the beauty of God or marvel at His mysterious ways. May we ask God for a renewed vision to look at His Word and see how wonderful it is in our lives every day.
2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
King Asa started out well when he turned to the Lord, sought Him, and found Him. He took courage when doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord gave him rest. The Bible also recorded that “Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.” (2 Chronicles 15:17) Yet in his last years when he was under attack, he chose to rely on man rather than God. Hanani the seer came and reminded King Asa of the time when he relied solely on the Lord and received deliverance, yet instead of repenting and relying on God, Asa became enraged and sent Hanani to prison. The end of Asa’s life was a tragic end of affliction and diseases, and even then “he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians.”
We may have started our journey well when we relied on the Lord our God, but as we started to experience victories, did we lose sight of the true deliverer of success like King Asa did in his last years? 2 Chronicles 16:9 is not just an encouragement that the Lord seeks out and strengthens, but also warning for us to keep from pride so that we may have a heart that is fully committed to God to the very end.
Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise.”
We all fall some times, and there is no ‘perfect’ Christian as long as we live on this side of eternity. King David, a man after God’s heart, was a man of great faith and had an absolute love for God’s law. Yet David was really just a man like all of us, who stumbles and sins against God. What strikes me the most is David’s consistent love for God, that when he sinned, he did not choose to run away from God but sought to confess and repent of those sins. His desire to please God through his victories, struggles and even after his failures reminds me that all we can truly offer God is all our heart, in all our brokenness – which God will not despise.
Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
This year’s ministry journey saw God opening up many opportunities to help other young adults (YAs) through building their spiritual foundations. We used a follow up series that is typically done with a Christian who is new in his/her faith. I really could relate to these YAs, as many of us are second generation Christians and have been in church almost all our lives, but somewhere along the way we lacked a joy and confidence in our faith because the assumption that we already “knew” what our faith was about was made when we were younger, leading to weak foundations taking root. Later on in my journey I was discipled by my spiritual mentors who taught me the importance of foundations. The more I went through those follow up sessions with different individuals, the clearer it became to me that this was what God had called me to sow for this season. What keeps me going in my faith all boils down to my relationship with my God. To do His will, because He is my God. And his Holy Spirit is the one who will guide and lead us all as we rebuild our foundations on level ground.
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