"My Times are in Your Hands" (Psalm 31:15)

Worldly timing or human planning have always thrown a spanner into the works. Jesus in John's Gospel repeatedly said that, "My time is not yet". If it is just human reckoning, I should now be taking a sabbatical since my return from Singapore more than 6 years ago. But I have to wait for a long time for ministry appointments so much so, one reader who read my book texted me and asked why that was so. Only the Lord knows the answer but I have always waited for His time. I waited 6 months before starting in Ranau in 2015, then for two months out of work when I completed my Semester as Acting Principal. Before the current pastorate, I waited 11 months, out of work for nearly a year in 2019. Who is able to do endure all these?

Humanly, it is a financial disaster. From April 2016 to July 2017, I had received no fixed salary. God provided through a generous benefactor. That's a total of 16 months and then last year, another 11 months of waiting. If the Lord had not blessed me, where would I be? "Put not your trust in princes" but "trust in the Lord". Human beings are prone to injustice and commit many wrongs, even towards fellow servants of God. They should know better but they don't because they are not good shepherds, but hirelings like the three shepherds of Zechariah 11 who detest the Lord and cast out by Him ultimately. But I have seen the Lord coming to my defence time and time again when there is not a single soul in support. And this morning I read and marked Psalm 89:23 "the Lord will vanquish my enemies before me". As a young Christian, I was given this promise that was first given to Abraham: "I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you". Although my relationship with my siblings experience many ups and downs, I know how the Lord has blessed my three brothers. I have prayed for them often, recently during the 8-day Prayer Chain. When my brother was elevated to be the Judicial Commissioner last July, the word of the Lord came to me: "I will bless those who bless you". It was this brother who helped me purchased a house nearly 15 years ago. He gave me an interest -free loan and at the end, wrote off a part of the loan and in his words: "It is a gift". I did not ask or expect anything from him, but because of the goodness of his heart, the Lord rewards him accordingly. "Anyone who gives a drink to these little ones for my sake, will not lose their reward."