I may have burnt out a little with the reduced sleep for the past two weeks; for the past 3 days I have done little to no work, and have instead spent my time staring at text getting no information into cognition. This comes at a bad time, as I have plenty to complete before the sub-district getaway on the coming weekend and the Public Law exam the weekend after. Assignments to complete before the mid-sem break, on top of the piles of readings to be done.
Yesterday I watched a show with a profane title: Unglourious Basterds. It was nonetheless a good show; a well-developed story (though fictitious) reflecting a fantasy to kill the Fuhrer during Nazi occupation of France. The acting was fantastic; Brad Pitt's talent does not waste away even though he has aged very rapidly in the few years. There was also very impressive talent for accents and fluency for multiple languages from many cast members. Casual and extremely brutal violence ran through many parts of the show. Unlike Valkyrie (which was based on a true, therefore unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Hitler), this show ended with him burning along with Goebbels and members of Nazi high command in a locked theatre to the sinister laughter of a Jewish lady.
Today passed quickly thanks to waking up late; time at church flew as well. Self-noticeably, I was rather animated today. Doubt many have seen me that way, and no one is used to it. (Hmmmn. What's happening to me?)
Rejoicing in Sufferings
2Cor12:7-9 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was give me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Also reference to Rom5:3-4 and James1:2-4. The point being made is that God allows us to endure hardship to strengthen us. When we first come close to God, it is a honeymoon; we are joyful and eager to begin a new life with God. However, we are like eggs. We either hatch, or we go bad. It is then a time when we undergo testing of our faith; suddenly the calmness becomes a storm. Difficult times, difficult people, difficult things to understand enter our lives.
Taiyong has once spoken of God's refining process. He refines with fire. Gold is first mined in its ore form. It must be subject to extreme heat to burn away impurities, until it is allowed to cool into a mould and solidifies as a beautiful pure block of gold, as the goldsmith had shaped it. The same must be done with us.
Simon Peter was an apostle who really yearned to be by Jesus' side; he was the only one to ask Jesus to call him to walk on the water, the one who said he would never leave Jesus. However, he was plagued with pride. when the time came for his purification, the Lord said 'Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.' - Luke22:31-32 Jesus had allowed Peter to be shaken, so that all that needed to be removed from him would fall away.
Lisa Bevere speaks of a spiritual shaking. It has five purposes:
1. To bring it closer to its foundation
2. To remove what is dead
3. To harvest what is ripe
4. To awaken
5. To unify or mix together so it can no longer be seperated
When we build our houses, do we build on sand or on the Rock which is God? When shaking comes, the house on sand will collapse and its destruction is complete. We have so stand girm in our faith; otherwise we will not stand at all. (Isaiah 7:9) Luke 6:48 'He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.'
Therefore when we face sufferings, we must rejoice; it means God has picked us up and began His purifying process. Hebrews 12:7 "Endure hardship as discipline: God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness."
This was just something used to illustrate uncertainty in lecture; I found it an interesting story to share. I shall rip the whole thing off Wiki since I can't express it any better myself:
The Damocles of the anecdote was an obsequious courtier in the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a fourth century BC tyrant of Syracuse. Damocles exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so he could taste first hand that fortune. In the evening a banquet was held where Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a king. Only at the end of the meal did he look up and notice a sharpened sword hanging directly above his head by a single horse-hair. Immediately, he lost all taste for the fine foods and beautiful boys and asked leave of the tyrant, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate. Dionysius had successfully conveyed a sense of the constant fear in which the great man lives.
This story I found particularly familiar to any of us; what is God's plan for us? What will be of our future? Where will we work, who will we marry, are we going to be comfortable? There was something Derrick shared with me, which is very meaningful:
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." If we already knew what was coming our way, what then is the purpose of faith? If we knew what God has planned for us, then there is nothing for us to trust unto Him. Of course this does not mean blind faith, but rather a complete trust coupled with an alert lookout so that we do not miss what God puts in front of us. John 20:29 "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
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