Phileosophie

 What a beautiful thing. Isaiah is such a dense book, and at first glance, so difficult to read and to extract anything from, but chapter 28 speaks of the destruction that God is to bring upon Israel. It condemns Israel’s pride and reliance on itself. Isaiah sends a warning to Judah because of the alliance they have tried to make with Babylon (rather than trusting in God’s protection). Likewise, in modern times, we place our trust in things that we can see and control - our friends, marriages, jobs, finances. But all these things can fail.  Isaiah calls us to place our trust in God. He also reminds us, that even where there is destruction, God is working. He is breaking ground, so seeds can be planted and new life can spring forth. Spices are crushed to create a form that is more useful, more effective. Trial and tragedy prepare us for a new way.  As always, there is a hopeful end to the chapter. God’s plans are “wonderful” and his wisdom is “magnificent”. We can trust in...

This message has been very timely. I have been trying to reconcile these two things in my life: 1) The need to be content with God alone. The need to praise God in good times and bad (like Job). The need to seek God first, and not just so He gives me what I want. 2) The desire for companionship, marriage and family . On the one hand I felt that God would not place these desires on my heart if He did not plan to fulfil it - because God is a loving God and He does not do things just to be cruel or to mock (Ephesians 6:4). But on the other, I am 38 and have never been in what I would consider a proper relationship, and certainly have never been in one with a Christian. So at some points, finding it so difficult to reconcile the two, I questioned the very core of these beliefs - the existence of God himself. If these two things are inherent to what I believed of God, and these two things were irreconcilable, then did God actually exist? But God has been gracious enough, to lately provi...

In this season of life, I decided I should finally put some solid effort into understanding this verse that has come to me repeatedly - Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God (Matt 6:33). You would think that after all this time I would understand it, but I have often wondered what it should look like in day to day practice. The truth is, while inundated with my medical workload (over the past decade), I have found it difficult to have the emotional bandwidth to be as kind or as patient as I would have liked. I have felt very unlike the Lord Jesus Christ, essentially, like some failed version of a Christian. Hopefully this year, with more time on my hands, I will finally have time to tend to my spiritual life. I came across this sermon by Tim Keller. It is full of biblical wisdom, as usual.  1) God is always working 2) You will not be able to figure out, for a long time, what He's up to. 3) God works non-obviously, but God works 4) God's guidance is more something God does , than so...