7 Years On (Part 1)

I turned on my handphone this morning and there was a notification that my MacBook Air 11 inch which I bought as a farewell present in Singapore is now 7 years old. I tried to mark my major purchases in my handphone to remind me of the time of purchase and the memory that goes with it. By next month, it will be exactly 7 years on since I returned to Sabah from Singapore. 7 is a complete number. 7 years marks a complete period of time just as three and a half years is an eschatological temporal marker signifying a short time or a time cut short. So what have I done in the past 7 years back in Sabah? I can only marvel at God's goodness and faithfulness and all the three promises He gave me when I sought His leading when in Singapore early 2014 had all come true and it will be even more so in months and years ahead. First. "I shall be with you" or "I will deal well with you" when God commanded Jacob to return to his land of birth after 20 years in Midian. God had done that multiple times and had shown me His power and grace. How else could I have driven up and down Ranau more than 200 times over the course of 49 months if not the Lord's presence had gone with me? How else was I kept from accidents or untoward incidents?

I had a few close shaves but not a scratch in my body, "for He keeps all your bones". How else could I have repaid my house loan and my brother in 4 short years if not God's promise was true that He would deal well with me? When my brother was elevated Judicial Commissioner (it's almost a year now), God's Word came to me, "those who bless you shall be blessed, those who despise you shall be cursed". My brother gave me a big discount on his loan to me and I was amazed at his generosity. I could only remember that I sent him a few cheques when I was working in NZ while he was at varsity and one cheque when he started work in US. My brother had blessed me 10 times over. When I considered the three politician friends I had - two are Deputy Federal Ministers and one is an Assistant Minister in the state government. No one predicted my two good friends would win but they not only won re-election but promoted as ministers. Is not God's Word true that He will bless those who bless you? Second, in Lev 25, I had returned to my possession in early 2019. Now I live in my own house (God's house and it is His gift) and how did that come about? I had no house as a senior pastor of one of the largest churches in Kota Kinabalu 15 years ago. I was all out in God's service. I chaired 50 meetings in 2005. I built a Ministry Centre from zero money to full payment when the building was completed in less than a year. When I was praying on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas in 2004, the Ministry Centre Fund was still RM100,000 short. Hence, my fervent prayers day after day. On that day my brother came to my house and offered me an interest free loan to purchase a house. I nearly turned his offer down but the Lord spoke to me, "Since you wanted to build Me a house, I will build for you a house." (2 Sam 7). So my house is the Lord's gift, granted to me because I was a faithful priest in His House, doing His service.