Thursday, February 28, 2008
Psalm 59

9 You are my strength; I wait for you to rescue me,
for you, O God, are my fortress.

10 In his unfailing love, my God will stand with me.
He will let me look down in triumph on all my enemies.

11 Don’t kill them, for my people soon forget such lessons;
stagger them with your power, and bring them to their knees,
O Lord our shield.

I find verse 11 particularly intriguing. David asked God not to kill his enemies because his people would soon forget about the victories.

On reflection, I realise that I am rather forgetful too. I am easily distracted by the problems of the moment. That's why it's important for me to set aside time for God every day to give thanks to him for his past blessings, for his present help and for his future promises.

oonyong

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Psalms 56

Hi family! sorry wasnt able to share ytd cos as usual, too many tings to do. and i had to use my 1hr time with God to finish up my sch work. so im also guilty of not spending time with God regularly. xD

Well, anyway, here is Psalm56. i mean my sharing.

v5-6 "All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life."

Does not this sound familiar to you? For those of us who tried sharing Christ with our friends should feel in one way or another, similar to the above verse.

There's always this "distractor" that will come by to keep your friend fromlistening to you share Christ. What's worse is ppl who sit beside your friend and say things that are contradicting whatever you are sharing with him! And sometimes you just feel like giving him one tight slap or shouting right into his face to GET LOST! Well, that's just what i feel like doing sometimes. -_-

But look at v13 "For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that i may walk before God in the light of life." If i was to give that guy a piece of my mind, i would have scared away both my friend and the "distractor". Makes sense?

Instead, present your thank offerings to God(v12) and soon you'll see that your "enemies will turn back when I(you) call for help." Not just that the enemies will run away from you when u call to God for help, even the "distractors" will come to help you too! Buts it is also a good sign if these ppl come to you for help! I jus cant help but imagine the awesomeness of that..

All talk and no work makes Daniel a fat boy. So i encourage all of us(especially those in sol2) to continue serving the Lord by serving our friends. Well, to be leaders, we first have to be servants. :D

Blessed week ahead!

Oh ya, i would also want to thank God for helping me pass my amaths, ace-ing my comb. sci and helping me get 10/11 for my SS's SBQ(thou i got 14/25 for the paper, essay got 4m. haha). i also got 24/50 for chinese. :D

In God's Presence,
Daniel Lee Tock Kong

Psalm 57 by Adrian

Once out of church, we are in the World again where the Word of God is easily drowned by our Worldly pleasures, depending on which frequency we are tuning to.

Like being "in the midst of lions; we lie among ravenous beasts" we are constantly bombarded by temptations. Once hooked, it's like being dragged to the slaughterhouse to the point of no return. Like what Joel shared, I have at times succumb to TV and fast grudgingly.

Thankfully God knows we are weak and when left on our own, we are only capable of vices. Whenever we come to Him with a broken spirit and a contrite heart, he forgives! "For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies"

My prayer is that whatever we do, may God "Be exalted, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth."

etok..

Sunday, February 24, 2008
Psalm 55

It seems that David is in anguish again... He has been betrayed by his "companion"... Ps 55:20 "My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant."

To be betrayed by someone you trusted is even more painful than being humiliated by your enemy... Even Daivid agrees: Ps55:12-14 "If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God."

When even your most trusted companion has betrayed you, who can you trust? David cries to God to take vengeance for him... And he ends by telling us the best solution: Cast your cares onto the Lord. Ps55:22 "Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."

So when there is a point of your life when you feel that you have been betrayed and humiliated by your closest friends and cannot trust anyone anymore, remember God is always waiting for you to cast all your burdens onto Him... He'll take the necessary action needed... He's the only one that really can be trusted...

Trusting in God always,
Csquare =)

Saturday, February 23, 2008
Psalm 54!

It's a very short psalm. Again!

1 Save me, O God, by your name;
vindicate me by your might.

2 Hear my prayer, O God;
listen to the words of my mouth.

3 Strangers are attacking me;
ruthless men seek my life—
men without regard for God.
Selah

4 Surely God is my help;
the Lord is the one who sustains me.

5 Let evil recoil on those who slander me;
in your faithfulness destroy them.

6 I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
I will praise your name, O LORD,
for it is good.

7 For he has delivered me from all my troubles,
and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.

The first verse speaks to me as it says that God will save us from our sins by the power of His name, and He will vindicate us by His might. This week, I haven't really kept to my promises, its quite difficult. The one hour I spend with God isn't one straight hour, although I haven't played any comp games and I have successfully fasted so far from Star Wars. Which is what I have decided to fast from. Not to mention that I've been doing quite a few other wrong things this week. So I claim this verse that God has forgiven me and given me yet another chance, and will save me from my sins.

Similarly, verse 4 tells me that when the going is tough, and I find myself unable to continue on my own, God will give me the strength and will sustain me through my difficulties.

So don't give up, and depend on God, for He won't let you down!

See all of you tomorrow. Remember to come for cell! And bring your guitar if you can!

Since someone keeps bugging me to sign off, I will. -.-

Joel L.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Psalm 50 by Adrian

In this Psalm God seemed to be talking directly to us instead of through the Psalmists, telling us how great and mighty and omnipotent He is. He has everything he needs (he is the Creator of all things remember?) Yet in all his Majesty, there is one thing God desires that only we can give.

vs 14 "Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you and you will honour me."

Just like prophet Hosea who loved his wife despite her prostituting herself unrepentantly, God loves us to a fault. He truly desires to spend time with us and hear our appreciation and compliments of all he has done for us.

In this 40days fast, as we set aside 1hr for God, thank him DAILY for one thing he has done for you! And God promises to answer you whenever you call!

etok..

Sunday, February 17, 2008
Psalm 48

Psalm 48 reminds me of the song we sang at church today:

Saturday, February 16, 2008
Psalms 47

Okay. Today's psalm is really, really short.

So well, let's start with the first verse. I feel that the verse where it tells us to clap our hands, and shout to God with cries of joy, tells us to look at our lives, and praise God for what he has done for us. So, this week, I was able to keep up with my homework, and spam Kinship II in three days. Thank God for helping me to balance my time. I still feel quite guilty. Probably should have studied more, but at least, I'm not falling behind.

Verse 4 tells us that God has chosen our inheritance for us. To me, this means that God has a plan for us, and we should follow this plan. Because God knows what is best for us. Let's try not think about going our own way, or making excuses, or just simply giving up. We'll have to trust in God. And grow closer to Him. I know that I haven't really been spending as much time with God as I did in January, but I'll have to make god on that.

Verse 6 is just a repeat of the first verse, but reminds of the song Forever.

Okay. Let's not give up and continue to read our psalms daily. I know it's difficult, but that's what God wants us to do.

See you guys tomorrow.

Thursday, February 14, 2008
Psalm 46

I won't have a chance tomorrow to use the computer, so I thought I'd better share this in advance so I'm still in the race :)

So anyway, the impression I got after reading tomorrow's Psalm 46 is that it's describing the end times which the book of Revelations talks about. For example, "the mountains fall into the heart of the sea" (v2), "its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging" (v3) and "nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts" (v6). The message of this Psalm is that despite all this chaos, we should "be still, and know that [He] [is] God" (v10). Very similar to that of today's psalm - both talk about the return of the king (Jesus).

That's all for now. By the way, this Sunday Pastor Khong will be giving a sermon on today's Psalm 45, entitled "The King and I". I guess we can all look forward to it!


God bless you,
:) John

(Chemical) Engineering joke

An undergraduate student was crossing the road one day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful Princess, I will stay with you for one week." The boy took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to his pocket.

The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful Princess, I'll stay with you and do *Anything* you want." Again the boy took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.

Finally the frog asked, "What is it? I've told you I'm a beautiful Princess, that I'll stay with you for a week and do *Anything* you want. Why won't you kiss me?"

The undergraduate student said, "Look, I'm an engineering major. I don't have time for girlfriends, but a talking frog is really cool!"

Psalm 45

This psalm is a wedding song and it's a rather interesting coincidence since today is Valentine's day.
When I read this psalm in the morning, I was quite surprised because the mood was significantly different from the previous psalms. The psalm describes a joyous occasion and the phrases used give us a glimpse of the splendor of this event.

If I may use the poetic tools that Adrian mentioned earlier, the whole psalm seems to be emblematic metaphorical. It uses the wedding to symbolise our future relationship with God. Jesus is the bridegroom who will return and the Church, of which we are a part of, is his bride.

While waiting for the bridegroom, the bride needs to prepare herself (by dressing up in nice, clean clothes etc). Similarly, as we await the second coming of Jesus, we need to prepare ourselves for him. The way to do this is to lead a holy life that is pleasing to God. But it's not easy to do that. So we need to pray and ask the Holy Spirit for guidance to discern what is right before God.

oonyong

Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Sharing of Psalm 42 & 43

Psalm 42 vs 5, vs 11 and Psalm 43 vs 5 are exactly the same, repeated 3 times!

The Psalmist could be trying to emphasise a point.
"Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God!

He talks to his soul as if it is another person who he has no control over. He doesn't want to feel downcast but he can't help it and it could be the difficulties he is facing at present. Despite that he resolved to put his hope in God and PRAISE HIM!

There are many things out of our control but the one thing we can do is to CHOOSE to use our mouth to sing praises to God in whatever situations we are in. We can CHOOSE to put our hope in God who is forever faithful and always there for us! What is your choice?

etok..

Monday, February 11, 2008
Survival (ChannelNewsJesus)

Hi guys!

It's been more than a month since we started sharing our personal insights on this blog. Barely halfway through (150 psalms in all!) but somehow we are losing the momentum! I guess this is not merely a test of our determination to read a psalm a day but also a "survival of the fittest" of sorts to see who will ultimately remain faithfully sharing as scheduled.

Let me revive this sharing by announcing those still in the race!

42/3 Adrian (Tue)
44 Joel Ang (Wed)
45 Enrong (Thu)
46 John (Fri)
47 Joel Lim (Sat)
48 Craig (Sun)
49 Daniel (Mon)
50 Adrian (Tue)

Although it has shrunk to 7 of us now, on the brighter side of things, it is much easier to remember. For me, I know I will be sharing every Tuesday!

Just a reminder that we must sms the person after us to post. Of course it's best that we check the blog periodically and not wait for others to sms us!

If your name isn't listed, don't fret! Just drop me a sms and I will schedule you in.

Now for those remaining, let's see who will be the last man standing! =)

etok...

Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Psalm 34

I was supposed to share this 3 days ago but haven't had the time to do it yet... until now. Sorry. Better late than never (like what En Rong said).

Psalm 34 was written by David when he pretended to be insane so that Abimelech would let him leave. David must have been feeling quite flustered because Abimelech was holding him back. However, he still found ways and means to praise the Lord. For example, he wrote the psalm as an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. He probably did this because he was too flustered to think clearly and he needed a structure to adhere to. The psalm also starts by praising God - David never fails to do this, no matter how many troubles he might be facing at the time of writing. I think we can learn from David on this point - we should be always thankful, even when it's raining. Also, the psalm teaches us to fear the Lord - when we fear Him, He will bless, protect and redeem us.


God bless you,
:) John

Monday, February 4, 2008
Psalm 35

Okay.. Since today's psalm is SO LONG. I won't type/copy it out... And I won't take up too much or your time...

Okay. here we go.

Verse 4 - I think that verse 4 tells us that even as our enemies plot against us, and try to bring us down, God is still with us in this sort of situation, and he will defend us from our enemies. So this would be a good verse if you are feeling embattled by the attacks of the evil one.

Verse 10 - Tells us that God will rescue us in times of need. It also tells us that God has a heart for the poor and needy, and therefore we should too...

Verse 18 - It's just a verse that shows how much we should praise God. That we should praise Him in whatever situation we might be...

Verse 28 - Similar to the verse up there. Also that we should show others how good God has been to us in our lives...

=D Have a Good wk ahead

And Happy Chinese New Year...

Sunday, February 3, 2008
Better late than never?

I'm supposed to share about Psalm 32 on Friday, so I guess I'm 2 days late. Anyway I think the verse that caught my eye was verse 7 coz it reminded me of the following song.

You are my hiding place,
You always fill my heart
with songs of deliverance.
Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.

I will trust in You.
Let the weak say I am strong
in the strength of my Lord.
I will trust in You.

As I've shared today, I have lotsa tutorials, project research, lab reports to do. I even lost my voice!

In the midst of all this, one thing that I can choose to do is to trust in God, to claim my strength in Him.

I shall end off with the following verses:
"The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic." (Psalm 29:4) and "The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace." (Psalm 29:11).

I believe that God will grant me peace so that I can have a good rest every night!