This is my last post for the year 2008. It is one very important post that I felt strongly to share to you. Please do take some time off to read it.The third night at Peace Haven during GY Camp 2008 was really nice. It was about 12am or 1am, we went out to the open car park to look at the stars in the night sky. At first some of the campers went and saw then they came back in to tell us. I got really excited and gathered a few people to go and watch God’s beautiful artwork. When I stepped out of the building, it was freezing cold outside. The wind was blowing and there were mist and we were practically walking in the clouds in freezing temperature.
We braved the cold air and went to the car park, we looked up and all of us were in awe at the wonders we saw up above. Down in the Klang Valley there is no such opportunity to see such beautiful wonders. But up above at the mountain, we could almost feel we were in heaven. The stars were so beautiful and there were so many of them we could not count. Then a few of us lied down on the ground and spent some time admiring God’s beautiful masterpiece. We just couldn’t stop being amazed, there were so many “Wow!” each time the mist cleared up to give us a better view of the starts. Although we were freezing outside, we stayed on to admire the stars. I took time to recite Psalm 8 from the Bible and thanked God for being God… There was a feeling of spiritual joy that night. I once again felt that God was so beautiful and so overwhelming. It was good to take a few moment of my busy schedule to lie down there and speak to God. Too bad the moment was destroyed when the securities came and chased us back into the building. Wei Sern, you spoilt my moment…
Genesis 15:5
God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the starts – if indeed you can count them.” Then God said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
When we read Chapter 15 we see that God appeared to Abram in a dream and told him that God will be Abram’s shield and great reward. But Abram doubted God and complained to God that he had no children to must then choose a servant of his to be his heir. Then God brought him out of the tent and showed him the stars, telling him that his children will be as numerous as the stars.
Abram was in his tent. He could not see God’s promise and therefore he doubted God. In his tent, he is covered from the outside view. All that he could see is his problem, his sorrows, his troubles. He could not see what God has in store for him because he was in his closed up tent. Until he left his tent and went out to see God’s promise he will still not know God’s plan for him. We read on to see that Abram became a new changed man with a new name Abraham and he had Isaac as a son. Through Isaac, there was Jacob and through Jacob there were the twelve tribes of Israel and then the lineage leads down to the birth of Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus Christ was Abraham’s descendent. And when we read Galatians 3:26, 29, we are told that if we believe in Jesus, we belong to Jesus and if we belong to Jesus we are Abraham’s seeds, and heirs according to the promise. All this happened because Abraham went out of his tent to look at God’s promise.
The stars that I saw that night reminded me the promises of God. The stars tell me that God’s promises won’t let go of me. It wasn’t easy for the campers that night to come out of their “tents”. The weather was so cold outside and the wind was so strong. We would rather stay inside our tents that night and go on chit chatting with our friends. But we wanted to see the beauty painted in the stars above, so we braved the cold and left our tents to see what we wanted to see – the beautiful stars up above the heavens.
Many of us are still trapped in our tents. We are prisoners in our own tents, in our own thoughts and sorrows and disappointment and troubles and problems. We do not yet see what is outside of our tent. The promises that God has in store for us are for us if we only learn to trust God and let God be God and let God lead us out of our tents to see the stars outside. When we are in our tents we only see the space around us but when we move outside we see the space God has given us. He has a larger mission for us than to just live in our tents the rest of our life. We must be valiant toward the cold outside our tents and be strong against the wind outside. There is no use staying inside and finding protection in our little tents. God promised Abraham that God will be his shield and lead him out of the tent. The same thing God says to us this day.
Abraham doubted God but when he left his tent to see the stars, he knew that God was really with him. Abraham was overwhelmed by his troubled situation inside his tent but when he left his tent he was overwhelmed with God’s promises. Abraham lost hope inside his tent but outside his tent he found hope in God.
This coming New Year is a time for us to leave our tents and move out to see the stars that God has placed in the sky for us. They are not unreachable for our God is the God of possibility. If we would only choose to trust God and leave our tents, if we would only look away from our problems and let God help us with it, if we would only take up our cross and follow him, if we would only brave the cold and strong wind outside, if we would only be strong and courageous and consider our tent worthless and our life worth nothing, we would then see God’s will and purpose being fulfilled in our life.
Leave your tents. Look at the stars. God is with us.
-Zlwin Chew
Genesis 15:5
God took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the starts – if indeed you can count them, so shall your offspring be.”
