“
An individual should not have too much freedom. A nation should have absolute freedom.
Dr. Sun Yat-sen

Lamentations 3

New International Version (NIV)

Lamentations 3

 1 [a]I am the man who has seen affliction 
   by the rod of the LORD’s wrath. 
2 He has driven me away and made me walk 
   in darkness rather than light; 
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me 
   again and again, all day long.

 4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old 
   and has broken my bones. 
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me 
   with bitterness and hardship. 
6 He has made me dwell in darkness 
   like those long dead.

 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; 
   he has weighed me down with chains. 
8 Even when I call out or cry for help, 
   he shuts out my prayer. 
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; 
   he has made my paths crooked.

 10 Like a bear lying in wait, 
   like a lion in hiding, 
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me 
   and left me without help. 
12 He drew his bow 
   and made me the target for his arrows.

 13 He pierced my heart 
   with arrows from his quiver. 
14 I became the laughingstock of all my people; 
   they mock me in song all day long. 
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs 
   and given me gall to drink.

 16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; 
   he has trampled me in the dust. 
17 I have been deprived of peace; 
   I have forgotten what prosperity is. 
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone 
   and all that I had hoped from the LORD.”

 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, 
   the bitterness and the gall. 
20 I well remember them, 
   and my soul is downcast within me. 
21 Yet this I call to mind 
   and therefore I have hope:

 22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, 
   for his compassions never fail. 
23 They are new every morning; 
   great is your faithfulness. 
24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; 
   therefore I will wait for him.”

 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, 
   to the one who seeks him; 
26 it is good to wait quietly 
   for the salvation of the LORD. 
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke 
   while he is young.

 28 Let him sit alone in silence, 
   for the LORD has laid it on him. 
29 Let him bury his face in the dust— 
   there may yet be hope. 
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him, 
   and let him be filled with disgrace.

 31 For no one is cast off 
   by the Lord forever. 
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, 
   so great is his unfailing love. 
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction 
   or grief to anyone.

 34 To crush underfoot 
   all prisoners in the land, 
35 to deny people their rights 
   before the Most High, 
36 to deprive them of justice— 
   would not the Lord see such things?

 37 Who can speak and have it happen 
   if the Lord has not decreed it? 
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High 
   that both calamities and good things come? 
39 Why should the living complain 
   when punished for their sins?

 40 Let us examine our ways and test them, 
   and let us return to the LORD. 
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands 
   to God in heaven, and say: 
42 “We have sinned and rebelled 
   and you have not forgiven.

 43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; 
   you have slain without pity. 
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud 
   so that no prayer can get through. 
45 You have made us scum and refuse 
   among the nations.

 46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths 
   wide against us. 
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls, 
   ruin and destruction.” 
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes 
   because my people are destroyed.

 49 My eyes will flow unceasingly, 
   without relief, 
50 until the LORD looks down 
   from heaven and sees. 
51 What I see brings grief to my soul 
   because of all the women of my city.

 52 Those who were my enemies without cause 
   hunted me like a bird. 
53 They tried to end my life in a pit 
   and threw stones at me; 
54 the waters closed over my head, 
   and I thought I was about to perish.

 55 I called on your name, LORD, 
   from the depths of the pit. 
56 You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears 
   to my cry for relief.” 
57 You came near when I called you, 
   and you said, “Do not fear.”

 58 You, Lord, took up my case; 
   you redeemed my life. 
59 LORD, you have seen the wrong done to me. 
   Uphold my cause! 
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance, 
   all their plots against me.

 61 LORD, you have heard their insults, 
   all their plots against me— 
62 what my enemies whisper and mutter 
   against me all day long. 
63 Look at them! Sitting or standing, 
   they mock me in their songs.

 64 Pay them back what they deserve, LORD, 
   for what their hands have done. 
65 Put a veil over their hearts, 
   and may your curse be on them! 
66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them 
   from under the heavens of the LORD.

Thank You

After weeks of not hearing back from my internship apps, finally the calls and emails come trickling in. I wish they came in a little earlier, before everything was due, but hey, all in God’s timing right? Whether in waiting in patience, or enduring through craziness, all things serve to discipline and grow us. 

God,

Mighty

My body is is weak, but my God is mighty

My mind and flesh will fail and wear out, but He is forever faithful

And even when He doesn’t heal, He is good always

“
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
How Deep The Father’s Love For Us, Stuart Townend

Satisfied

In all circumstances, I will be glad and praise the Lord. What is a career but something we can only hold on for a few decades? Can any of us ever take what we’ve accomplished to the grave?

Because He lives, I can face each day with joy and thankfulness.

Thank you God, for giving me everything good at the right time.

Psalm 119: 9-16

9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? 
   By living according to your word. 
10 I seek you with all my heart; 
   do not let me stray from your commands. 
11 I have hidden your word in my heart 
   that I might not sin against you. 
12 Praise be to you, LORD; 
   teach me your decrees. 
13 With my lips I recount 
   all the laws that come from your mouth. 
14 I rejoice in following your statutes 
   as one rejoices in great riches. 
15 I meditate on your precepts 
   and consider your ways. 
16 I delight in your decrees; 
   I will not neglect your word.

One thing that has been pressing on my heart is how vulnerable I can be as a young Christian. Scripture is often too dry, so I turn to Christian books that are easier to read, eloquent speakers who can pique my interest, and songs that can lead my emotions to a spiritual state.

But how often can I say that I delight in His Word?

How often am I willing to wait and meditate?

I’ve been understanding more and more that I’m not called to be a follower of celebrity pastors, nor am I called to be spiritually fed by the brand equity of a church. I’m called to take up my cross and follow hard after Jesus, the Word manifest in flesh. And nothing else in life has more meaning than that.


Justice

Isaiah 59 

Evil and Oppression

59 Behold, bthe Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,

or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

2 cbut your iniquities have made a separation

between you and your God,

and your sins have hidden his face from you

so that he does not hear.

3 dFor your hands are defiled with blood

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies;

your tongue mutters wickedness.

4 eNo one enters suit justly;

no one goes to law honestly;

they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,

fthey conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

5 They hatch adders’ eggs;

they weave the spider’s web;

he who eats their eggs dies,

and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.

6 gTheir webs will not serve as clothing;

men will not cover themselves with what they make.

Their works are works of iniquity,

and deeds of violence are in their hands.

7 hTheir feet run to evil,

and they are swift to shed innocent blood;

their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;

desolation and destruction are in their highways.

8 The way of peace they do not know,

and there is no justice in their paths;

they have made their roads crooked;

ino one who treads on them knows peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us,

and righteousness does not overtake us;

jwe hope for light, and behold, darkness,

and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

10 kWe grope for the wall like the blind;

we grope like those who have no eyes;

we stumble at noon as in the twilight,

lamong those in full vigor we are like dead men.

11 We all growl like bears;

mwe moan and moan like doves;

nwe hope for justice, but there is none;

for salvation, but it is far from us.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you,

and our sins testify against us;

for our transgressions are with us,

and we know our iniquities:

13 transgressing, and denying the Lord,

and turning back from following our God,

ospeaking oppression and revolt,

conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.

Judgment and Redemption

14 pJustice is turned back,

and righteousness stands far away;

for truth has stumbled in the public squares,

and uprightness cannot enter.

15 Truth is lacking,

and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him1

that there was no justice.

16 qHe saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

then his own arm brought him salvation,

and his righteousness upheld him.

17 rHe put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in szeal as a cloak.

18 tAccording to their deeds, so will he repay,

wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;

uto the coastlands he will render repayment.

19 vSo they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,

and his glory from the rising of the sun;

wfor he will come like a rushing stream,2

which the wind of the Lord drives.

20 x“And ya Redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.

21 “And as for me, zthis is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, aand my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

Strength

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks commensurate with your strength. Pray for strength commensurate with your tasks.”

Col 1:9-14

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.


reposted from Jaeson Ma

https://www.facebook.com/jaesonma

Castaway on the Moon

great movie I watched over break, made me cry.

Movie nights before school starts?