The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand [the side not carrying a shield] Psalms 121:5 (AMPC)

In ancient Israel, a warrior on the battlefield usually carries a few basic weapons to either attack or defend. A shield on the left hand and spear or a sword on his right formed the basic weapons for the battle. On the battlefield, he attacks with his right hand and defends with his left hand. But there is a side on which he is totally unprotected. That’s the side on the right hand where there is no shield for protection or defense. 

The Psalmist pronounces a blessing in Psalms 121:5 saying the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The Amplified Bible expands to include that it’s the side where there is no shield for protection. 
The beauty of God’s protection In our lives is that He is our shield on the unprotected side.

It’s necessary that we use our wisdom and experience to take all the precautions for protection In our daily life, like driving within the speed limits, preparing for an important presentation, and in these recent times of the Covid-19 pandemic – wearing masks, sanitizing your hands, practicing social distancing while venturing out. But when the enemy exploits the unprotected side of preparation/precaution to attack, God himself is our only protection then. 

This is the reason that our methods of precaution and self-protection are necessary but at the same time, it’s all in vain because unless God protects our own methods will fail to protect us, as Solomon wisely points out that “Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted.Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.” (Psalms 127:1).

Trusting in God, we should take all the precautions we can, but our protection comes only from the Lord.

“No man is wise at all times, or is without his blind side” – Desiderius Erasmus  

“For by You I can run through a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall” – Psalms 18:29

Asymmetry, which is the opposite of symmetry, is by definition an inequality. If you draw a line in the middle of an object, an asymmetric object will be unequal in size on either side of the line. One side might be smaller and the other would be larger. For the purposes of this article, I’d like to define asymmetry as an unequal or unfair advantage we possess when we have God on our side.

The Bible is filled with such instances of asymmetry, which reveals how God loves to intervene on our behalf when we are at our weakest or when we are stacked against a foe who is many times stronger or larger than us, which is often the time God’s power is at its greatest. It’s always a good exercise to go over these instances for our own encouragement and to get a realization of what we can achieve when we have the asymmetric or unfair advantage with the Creator of the universe is beside us and within us. 

1 > 1000 

“One man of you shall put to flight a thousand, for it is the Lord your God Who fights for you, as He promised you.” (Joshua 23:10)

Joshua, in his final speech to the Israelites who entered the promised land, makes an astounding statement that one man shall put to flight a thousand because God fights for them. That’s a 1:1000 asymmetry! When God fights along with you, then you are equal to one thousand. The best example of this is Samson who triumphantly exclaims “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have slain 1,000 men!”.

This is a very good reminder that God requires just one willing person, no matter how weak he or she is or how strong or large the opponents are, the victory is always asymmetrically rigged towards that one willing person. This should give us the courage and confidence to face any obstacle. The tools or the know-how we have is immaterial here. All Samson could find was the jawbone of a donkey and a thousand Philistines were no match for it. Even David, when facing Goliath, fell back to what he knew to handle – a sling and 5 smooth pebbles. He was literally bringing a stone for a sword fight. The tools did not match. But all it required to kill a giant was a smooth stone in a sling. I think what’s required on our part is to show up for the fight with what we have and know, God will take care of the rest, whether it’s a giant or a thousand men.

300 > 135,000

“…it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6)

The first instance of asymmetric warfare in the Bible is Abraham’s attack and routing of 4 Kings and their armies with just his 318 trained servants (Genesis 14:14-16). That’s an unequal match. Now, how could Abraham even think that he can defeat 4 Kings and 4 armies with just in-house trained non-professionals? He reveals his source of courage when he refuses King of Sodom’s offer of spoils by saying that his source of confidence is from the God Most High, the possessor of heaven and earth. 

During the time of Judges, we see God raising up Gideon and his army of 300 men to fight and defeat an army of 135,000 men – that’s 450 times larger than Gideon’s 300!  (Judges 7 and 8). Again, the war is asymmetrically rigged towards the smaller and weaker army because God is fighting for them. We also read that God intentionally trims down the strength of Gideon’s army from 22,000 men to 300, so that He gets the glory. 

As long as God is with us and working for us, as Jonathan tells his armor-bearer, the numbers on our side or on the enemy’s side doesn’t matter at all for victory. If God is for us, who or who can be against us?

God’s Supply > Your Need

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20)

It’s not only in warfare or battles that we see this asymmetry in play but also in God’s way of meeting needs or supplying provisions. During a famine, Issac sowed and saw 100X returns! “Then Isaac sowed seed in that land and received in the same year a hundred times as much as he had planted, and the Lord favored him with blessings.” (Genesis 26:12). A 100X return amidst a recession (famine) is God’s asymmetrical and exponential style of growth! 

Five loaves and two fishes were no match for 5000 men(besides women and children) who Jesus asked the disciples to feed. After the meager loaves and fishes multiplied into thousands and when everyone was satisfied, the disciples collected 12 baskets of extra food. Now, that’s asymmetrically amazing! 

Therefore, do not be anxious, and don’t worry about the recession or any financial or material lack. Just do what you can with what you have and with God on your side an asymmetrical growth will follow. 

Light & Momentary Affliction = Exceeding & Eternal Weight of Glory

St. Paul sheds some insights on how the troubles and afflictions that we face every day are rigged in our favor and are actually working for us an asymmetrical advantage. He encourages the Corinthian church with these words: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory”. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Notice the words ‘light’ and ‘exceeding and eternal’ – that’s an asymmetry! 

Therefore, next time when you face an affliction, just stay calm and remember that it’s all asymmetrically working in your favor. 

Be Aware of the Asymmetry

I think we should heed to Elisha’s words of encouragement that he gave his servant and also pray the prayer he prayed when the young man panicked when he saw an army surrounding the city: “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6: 16, 17)

Let’s always remember that no trouble we face is greater than God’s power, no sickness is greater than God’s healing power, and no need is too great for God to provide. 

Once we are aware of the asymmetrical advantage we possess in and through Christ, we can boldly declare “He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4)

“One man with God is a majority” – Brother Andrew

In the beginning…

The apostle John informs us that there was a genesis beyond the Genesis when he begins his book with the statement: “In the beginning was the word and the word with God and the word was God”. The Word seems to be the cause substance from which all other substances came to be. This invisible and intangible word is a spiritual substance that can be only be heard provided one has ears. This immediately establishes the fact that God is a communicator. In His wisdom, He has created us with two ears as if to imply that we should be all ears to His word.

According to the writer of the book of Hebrews, the word of God sustains and propels the universe. That sentence is more than enough to describe the power of God’s word. God’s famous first words ‘Let light be’ had the power to revive the earth from its state of emptiness and voidness. His plan to revive man from this state of emptiness and voidness was to repeat those famous words again by sending His Word (Jesus Christ) in human form to become the light of the world. And this son of God always continuously gave light and revived people by healing them, providing for them, and raising them from the dead – all through His word.

Jesus emphasised the life-giving nature of the word, during His time of temptation, that the man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Furthermore, He also said: “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life”. The word of God is the source of our very life and sustenance.Understanding this quite clearly, the richest man of the east, Job, confidently declared that he esteemed the word of God more than his daily food to live his life.

The rebirth or being born again is again solely by His word. Apostle Peter says that we have been born again, not by the perishable seed, but through the imperishable, living and abiding word of God. When we, humans, affirm this rebirth, we also do it by the word – our words, in this case: “…if you confess with your word that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”. God gives life through His word and we accept it through our words. Such is the importance and power of words, both God’s and ours.

Word seems to be very nature of God and since we, humans, are also created by His image and likeness we also possess this nature. Our words have the power create and revive. Unfortunately, our words also have the power to kill. The ancient proverb warns us that life and death are in the power of the tongue.

With this knowledge that we live in a world which was formed by words and that the word being the cause substance, then it’s imperative that we, who possess the very nature of God, understand how we should live our lives using our words, which has the power of life and death.

Silence is golden

The saying – with great power comes great responsibility – seems appropriate in this context as it’s very clear that we should pay careful attention to our words because of its inherent power. King Solomon says in one of his proverbs about guarding one’s mouth as a prerequisite to preserve one’s life. I think he got this insight from his father, King David, whose prayer was as follows: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips”. 

The judicious use of words seems to be the key to live our lives well. Setting up a guard is akin to being conscious of the words we utter which eventually leads to an habit of speaking sparsely. The ability to be intentionally hesitant to voice our opinion in a conversation can be a very wise thing as it’s written that ‘…a man of understanding keeps silent’ and also ‘Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent”. 

And when you are tempted to speak or voice your hasty opinion about someone or a situation, it’s best to remember James’ advice to the believers who were scattered because of the persecution (which is kind of the situation when one would like to have their voices heard) that they should be “…quick to listen. slow to speak and slow to become angry”. 

Being talkative has its downsides as it provides an opportunity for sin to rear its ugly head. Again the book of wisdom quite simply states that “too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut”. Moreover, it’s a bit scary when we read that we have to give an account for every careless word we speak (Matthew 12:36). Now, the word ‘account’ reminds me of an expenses tracker or in this case, words tracker. The less and wise expenditure of words should be our focus in our daily conversations.

Speech is silvern

After being silent for a while and when we speak at all, how and what should we speak? Again, the book of wisdom never fails to deliver its gems: “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver”. Paul admonishes the Ephesian church saying that “Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who ear”. To the Colossian church he says “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person”. 

It looks like that we should talk only when absolutely needed and when we do so we should give much thought to the words we use, properly assessing the situation and speak words seasoned with salt and grace. The right words at the right time seems to be the key here. 

This habit of using our words judiciously, graciously, and wisely also helps us persuade others. We learn from Proverbs 15:1 that a soft answer turns away wrath. Our words and answers can help dissolve tense situations. In circumstances where the expected behaviour is anger, we can make a difference by being unconventional with our soft answers and gracious words which will persuade others to see the bright side of the situation and will help bring about a solution. 
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). 

Self-talk

These gracious words not only is pleasant for others to hear, but it benefits the speaker as well. Proverbs 16:24 says that the gracious words are like honeycomb which is sweetness to the soul and the body. Our own words have an impact on our souls and bodies, which gets me thinking about the number of times we keep talking to ourselves everyday. Our thoughts are unvoiced words. Therefore, when we are thinking we are actually talking to ourselves. When we apply the above biblical principles even when we are talking to ourselves we bless ourselves, and bring healing to our soul and body. 

Jesus taught that what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and it defiles us. He also said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Therefore, the words we speak are a reflection of who we are. Words are fruits and they reveal what we are made up of. The remedy to a changed and pure heart is God’s word. Psalmist says: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalms 119:11). I think, as we keep hearing and meditating words of God, then our hearts and thereby our lives are changed. 

The biblical meditation is often referred to as a form of murmuring, musing or rehearsing within in one’s own mind which, I believe, is self-talk. As we speak the words of God to ourselves we store His words in our hearts, and when open our mouths to speak what comes out are gracious words that blesses us and the hearers.

Choose Life

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” (Proverbs 18:21)

The choice is with us or rather our tongues to decide how we influence ourselves and others. Let’s choose life and use this powerful divine nature of our words to create and recreate life and bring wholeness in this fallen world.

“…I have set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19) 

Recently, I was musing about the economic crises and wondering if there are any insights to be gleaned from this cyclical and rather regular event that punctuates the pages of history. As my thoughts wandered about I realized that there could be many lessons to be learnt from famines mentioned in the Bible. Famine is a type of economic crisis and seems to have been very disastrous during the ancient times as it was primarily an agricultural society. 

As I began to read through various mentions of famine in biblical history, I was quite fascinated by one such famine around the 1st century mentioned in the Book of Acts chapter 11 (verse 27-30).

“During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world.(This happened during the reign of Claudius.)
The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul” (NIV)

What’s fascinating about this incident is that I couldn’t find any mention of prayer or fasting or any sort of begging and pleading to change the mind of God or even ask Him to stop the famine in its tracks. These people just accepted what’s coming and started planning for it. What’s even more amazing is that they immediately proposed a plan of action to help the victims tide through the rough patch.

Don’t you think this is very surprising given the fact that we always pray for any catastrophe to go away? We, Christians, are known for praying and fasting for long hours during such a crisis or for many days if the situation is very dire.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not in any way trying to talk negatively about praying and fasting, and definitely, not degrading the importance of prayer and fasting. Prayer and fasting has its place and is very much required. But what I’m trying to point out is that in this instance there seems to be no mention of the early Christians fasting or praying whereas we, the 21st century Christians, would have done so instinctively. Moreover, many would have set out to propose plans to conduct prayer meetings both in large and small groups across different times in a day all over the country.

The early Christians seem to have been very pragmatic in responding to the crisis, which we can infer based on their actions outlined in verse 30. They decided to help their brothers and sisters in Judea and then quickly made sure their help reached the intended recipients by quickly enlisting delivery agents (Paul and Barnabas) who can make that happen.

Now, very interestingly, even Paul and Barnabas did not fast and pray. They quickly travelled to Judea on their mission to deliver the gifts( be it money or things). That’s pure practicality in action.

Moreover, they were fully obeying the 2nd of the two greatest commandments given by Jesus Christ which is to love your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 22:39).

I believe we can learn some lessons here on how to respond to crises.

1. Crises come to both believers and non-believers just like the sun rises each day over the good and the bad.
2. Crises are opportunities for us, believers, to act out our beliefs. A tree is known by its fruit.
3. The first century Christians ‘decided’ to respond to the crisis immediately after the prophecy. They did not stand or sit still and pray.  
4. The response during a crisis should be pragmatic with a plan of action that will provide real and tangible help. No spiritual help will be beneficial here.
5. Importantly, the believers were ready and well equipped which is a prerequisite to be helpful.
   “No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d had only good intentions. He had money as well” – Margaret Thatcher
   

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit” – Aristotle

Our actions are a function of who we are. People around you will get to know who you are and what are your characteristics through your actions. Whatever is within you has to be revealed through your actions.

The arena where we have a large audience to witness our actions is at our workplace, where we spend more than one-third of our lives working 8 to 10 hours a day.

The quality of work that we do daily at workplace is a very critical indicator of who we are and totally determines how your colleagues categorize you.

In Ephesians 2:10 Paul says “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (emphasis mine)

As Christians whatever work we do it has to be good, as per the above verse.

God’s self-evaluation system

In Genesis, we read that God always looked at his work each day and declared that it was good. (Genesis 1:4) God’s work was always excellent and good. He has left us an example of how we should work and do self evaluation of our work to see if it’s good or not.

Each day as we complete our work, wouldn’t it be good practise to look back at all the work we have done for that day and declare that it was ‘good’? This self evaluation will help us keep track of the quality of our work that we do. Definitely, this will help us to improve and grow our excellence every day. And ultimately bring glory to God’s name.

Light of the world

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

We are called to be the light of the world. There are many ways we can light up this world. I believe that one of the ways is through our skills and excellence at the workplace. Our skills and how we deploy them at the workplace will bring glory to God.

As mentioned in Matthew 5: 15, we shouldn’t hide the light under a bushel. In this case, we should display our God-given skills at the workplace. Excellent skills will propel one’s career forward and will enable one to get better positions or promotions. In this way we can be ‘set on the hill’ where we cannot be hidden. Colleagues and our bosses cannot ignore us since we will become shining lights that will brighten the team.

Moreover, we should be in the habit of acquiring new skills that’s needed for our work or industry. Always remember that your career is a moving target. It’s imperative that we keep updating and learning new skills to stay relevant in the workplace. And ultimately use our skills to bring glory to God.

I believe that the above principles of self-evaluation of our daily work and deploying our skills will help each of us be a good worker at our workplace. If you have any other ideas of how we can be witnesses for Christ at our workplace, please do share them in the comments.

]]> https://ajourney.wordpress.com/2017/10/17/good-work-er/feed/ 0 Martin https://ajourney.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/sure-word-of-promise/ https://ajourney.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/sure-word-of-promise/#comments Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:16:16 +0000 http://ajourney.wordpress.com/?p=105 More]]> God promised Canaan to the Israelites and wanted them have a glimpse of it. He orders Moses to choose twelve leaders, one from each tribe, to spy Canaan (Numbers 13 & 14).  These twelve leaders spy the land for forty days. They find that Canaan was indeed flowing with milk and honey. They get to walk in it and feel it. Their hearts were filled with joy that they were going to inherit a place so fertile and beautiful like Canaan.

However, there was one problem. The people who lived there were giants. These spies looked like grasshoppers before them. Now their hearts were troubled and they were totally discouraged. They thought they would never be able drive away these giants from the land. They spread this bad report among the people. Now everyone started complaining and whining.

All, except Caleb and Joshua, were scared.

Caleb and Joshua had a different spirit and a different perspective. They believed that God was with them and will help them defeat the giants. They urged the people not be afraid. They told them to have faith in God and His power. But the people tried to stone both of them.

Now God was angry. The faithlessness, the whining and the grumbling was a great insult to God’s promise and His power. He was now contemplating about sending a plague among the people. If not for Moses’ pleading before God, they would all have been destroyed that day. But God said in His anger that none would enter the promised land, except Caleb and Joshua.

Forty years later. Israelites inherit Canaan. The people who had doubted and grumbled were all dead. It was Joshua and Caleb who led the people into the promised land.

Lessons to be learnt:

1)  When God makes a promise it is sure and will definitely get fulfilled.
Heaven and earth may change, but God and His word will never change.

2)  When you doubt God’s promises it’s an insult to God.

3)  Both faith and fear are contagious.
It’s yours to choose which one to spread.

4)  Present circumstances and the promise will always contradict each other.
It’s yours to choose on which one to set your eyes on.

5)  A leader should always have a strong faith and clear vision about the promise.
This applies to your family, business, work, etc….

6)  There’s always a waiting period before the promise gets fulfilled.
It builds up your faith and prepares you to receive the promise.

7)  Walk by faith and not by sight.

“Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”   – St. Augustine

The following is one of my favorite songs:

He did not bring us out this far to take us back again.
He brought us out to take us into the promised land.

Though there be giants in the land, we will not be afraid.
He brought us out to take us into the promised land.

Tell me that it’s gonna be okay
Tell me that you’ll help me find my way
Tell me you can see the light of dawn is breaking
Tell me that it’s gonna be all right
Tell me that you’ll help me fight this fight
Tell me that you won’t leave me alone in this

‘Cause I need
I need a hand to hold
To hold me from the edge
The edge I’m sliding over slowly
‘Cause I need
I need your hand to hold
To hold me from the edge
The edge I’m sliding past
Hold on to me

‘Cause I need
I need a hand to hold
To hold me from the edge
The edge I’m sliding over slowly
‘Cause I need
I need your hand to hold
To hold me from the edge
The edge I’m sliding past
Hold on to me

Even our life is like a piece of cloth that is being weaved each day. We as human beings tend to commit mistakes or sins that kinda spoils the cloth – our life. This makes us feel bad and very often gets us into depressions. At times we are clueless about what to do with all the mess that we had become.

But, if we give our lives to God who is an Expert Weaver and honestly tell Him about the mess we are into and request Him to take over our lives and do the designing…. then He will convert all our mistakes into a beautiful design that we would’ve never imagined.  The mess we are into might be because of our past or our failures or addictions or it could be anything. It doesn’t matter. All we have to do is just allow Him to do the weaving and designing.

One day when we look back ….. each of our lives will be an unique masterpiece designed by God for His glory.  We just need to allow the Expert Weaver to take over.

– Martin

“But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him” – Jeremiah 18: 4

“Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I’ve become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can’t do this myself
You’re the only one who can undo
What I’ve become” –  ‘Undo’ by Rush of Fools

God took a huge risk by creating man with a free will. And man made a choice to move away from God. That’s why the first step(and the hardest step) to become a good christian is to surrender one’s will. God has placed before us both good and evil and it’s our responsiblity to use our will to choose the right path.

Isaiah 5.1-4 speaks of a situation where all the necessary things for a vineyard to yield good grapes is provided. But the vineyard yielded wild grapes. Choosing to disobey God can make us unfit for God’s purposes. Jesus, when He was in the garden of Gethsemane, prayed three times pleading with the Father:”My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me”. I think Jesus very well knew the consequences of being crucified and not being crucified. But He choose to obey the Father and said:”Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

It’s the nature of man to make a choice that is against the will of God. But we still have the ability to use our will to choose what we want to do.

My prayer is that the Lord may enlighten our minds to understand the will of God and give us the guts to choose to do it.