He says, Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:10
Last Thursday, I sat through the two hours plus new movie by Martin Scorsese, titled Silence.
It was a captivating movie for me, as it crystallize for me, the strands of knowledge I have garnered these past four years, on the history of Christianity in Japan
It was prescience as I now prepare to dwell deeper into Japan, for the budding growth(past 4 years) of the Christian faith after 400 years in this hard spiritual tundra, is starting to fully flower.
http://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/silence-movie-review-martin-scorseses-stunning-film-asks-riveting-questions-about-faith-3289246.html
The movie Silence is not just a chronicle of the persecution of the faithful in Japan, where the goal of the ruling Japanese inquisitors was to reduce the number of Christians from 10% of the population to effectively 0%, through brutal coercion. The movie left one with a sense of doubt, at least for me.
Would I be like the peasant Japanese Christians who underwent extreme torture and died for their unyielding faith. Or would I be like the Jesuit priests, the shepherds of these same peasants, who when it came to the crunch, denied God and submitted to man? Is unyielding faith in a silent and seemingly absent God justifiable?
For we know if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 Corinthians 5:1
God is clearly not silent with me at my moment of anxiety. This was the verse that He led me to in my quiet time with Him, as I pondered upon the question of the steadfastness of my faith. Clearly, the things of the world pales in comparison compared to what comes after in Heaven.
As the imperfect human, we tend to rationalize and justify our act of disobedience. For the Jesuits, it was to save the lives of the peasant Japanese Christians whose very existence depended on the Jesuits stepping on the image of Christ as an act of renouncement of the faith.
For me and you, in relatively safe Singapore, we often deny Christ in our workplace, at school, in our relationship with others, and in our willingness to obey His will, in order to preserve what we desire.
And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do...........Fear Him Who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell. yes, I say to you, fear Him.
Luke 12:4-5
Clearly, there is no room for compromise. The commands of God is an absolute. We should not deny Him, come what may.
Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.
Luke 12:8
A pastor friend of mine from Taiwan just told me today that friends of his who had watched the same move Silence experienced the same doubts that I had.
He also reminded me of this truth, it is often in the desert of our life that a Silent God is testing and refining our spirit man. God might be silent, but He is still at work in our lives.
Would we be willing to rest and abide in Him. To wait upon Him in obedience and not focus on the conclusion, even if the latter seems pretty dire?
The Bible on the issue of faith gave example of men and women of faith whose perseverance were rewarded on Earth. But it also speaks of those who only see their rewards in Heaven.
Being the finite man I am, I will rather be the former, like David who bravely faced off with Goliath because He believed God will deliver him.
What if God had not delivered David that fateful day? That is another story.
But what is real is David in his own journey with our Lord, has seen and experienced His grace and deliverance several times over.
And like many who have seek our Lord. It is a fact that we have experienced the grace of God many times over. The Christian faith is one of learning to let go and let God. Faith is an act of total dependency on the Sovereign God.
Rather than extrapolate into the future and our capacity to place God before everything else even at risk of loss of limb and life, it will be better to deal with the moment and learn to seek and trust Him with our all. And when God knows it is time to bring us to a new level of test, He will know our limits and He will have prepared our spirit man for it.
And may we be like our Lord Jesus Christ, Who at Gethsemane wrestled with the knowledge that obedience to His Father means death at the cross. But submitted to the will of God, and in doing so, experienced death, yet from it, came resurrection and redemption. The plans of God are much bigger and better than our finite understanding.
And truth is, God often speaks to our spirit man. It is us who often could not remain still enough to hear His resonant voice. As in Psalm 46:10, be still and experience the power and grace of God at work.
God Blesses
Eng Hieang
20 Feb 2017
An afterthought - Walkabout in Tokyo
For the aborigines of Australia, the walkabout is a rite of passage where the young teenager undergo a 6 months journey in the wilderness of the Australian bush. A spiritual and traditional transition from adolescence to manhood.
After 4 years of being involved in Japan from a distance, our good Lord decided that I should now do my own walkabout in Tokyo. I spent the week getting lost most days yet no longer fearing the unknown.
But it was a wonderful and important journey for me. I got to know the ground well and also got to walk a prayer walk. And our good Lord brought me into new friendships with committed Japanese Christians who never existed in my first 4 years involvement in Japan. And it was not just about giving, but receiving in terms of future business relationships.
It was a turning point for me and Japan. And while I am thankful that I was not a Jesuit in 17th Century Japan. The Japan of today is a different challenge but the same God and the same expectation from us His children. Are we willing to share the Gospel of hope and truth, wherever He places us. Earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear fallout or simply very hardened hearts and the need to let go of the material treasures that we hold so dear in comfortable Singapore?
