Don’t Cut the Rope

2 Kings 16:18

He took away the Sabbath canopy that had been built at the temple and removed the royal entryway outside the temple of the LORD, in deference to the king of Assyria.

We just had a full week. Literally. From Thursday to Monday, three high school friends flew here and stayed with us for their much-needed vacation. Then Monday to Thursday, another set came - twelve people(!) - to supposedly-attend CBAP’s Biennial Conference.  No, I did not attempt to serve them all day. They love me enough to expect that, haha :> Really, I had nothing in my hands except prepare their beds and buy the morning bread. That shouldn’t be tiring. But you don’t expect a host to let you eat your breakfast alone or sleep ahead and not care.  I had to be watchful and waiting for anything and everything, at all times. Plus the required smiles of course :> I was so tired I slept all weekend to recharge. But does this mean I’m quitting on this hospitality thing-y? Nah! Believe it or else, I’m missing them all!  You don’t bite an apple and say it’s a hard chew. You taste an apple to enjoy its sweetness :>

Ahaz was Judah’s royal blacksheep. Labeled as the most unfaithful to the Lord, he knew he was one and lived it. He envied the prodigal son for he had a Father waiting for his return. He knew his rebellion angered God and so he never came back. He was all alone when the Edomites and the Philistines attacked him and when Israel called Syria to fight against him. He felt he had no choice but to be a vassal of another enemy, Assyria. Further down, he bowed down to a lot other gods to save him. He offered them wealth, even threw his sons in the fire. He was all-out in pleasing them. He was passionately desperate in fact. He thought, ‘Since their gods helped them win, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me too!’ And so he carved their idols, copied their altars, and later on, like a last straw - -  he removed the pathway connecting the palace to the temple.  He was hard-pressed on every side, persecuted, and struck down. He said: ‘If God is quitting on me, then I’m quitting on Him!’

But did God quit on him? Will He ever to us? Hanging there on the cross, Jesus knew countless people will defy and deny Him. But didn’t He endure ‘til His last breath for mankind’s salvation? Didn't He die for both naughty and nice? God never left Ahaz. Here’s a trivia: Do you know to whom did the prophecy of the virgin birth and Jesus being Immanuel first spoken to? It was to Ahaz! That time when was shaken from Aram and Ephraim, God sent the prophet Isaiah with these words: ‘Be careful, keep calm, don’t be afraid’. God’s promise of help to Ahaz was Jesus Himself!  God never left him.  God’s grace even honored him to be part of Jesus’ genealogy. But sadly, he still quitted on God. Waiting was not his option. Words was not enough for him. But to you, hang on in there. Don’t cut the rope linking you and heaven. He has His hands on you. Don’t let go.  

Ravens, Then and Now

1 Kings 17:4

You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.

When Grey’s Anatomy turned gray and too relational (instead of medical), we’re just glad to have found House M.D.  Admittedly inspired by Sherlock Holmes, the lead character’s genius wit and funny sarcasm in diagnosing the undiagnosable is just addictive. The last episode we caught was House (Hugh Laurie) finding his six-months-missing-in-action team member Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) coming out of prison. She was fenced in for drugs but her true guilt was for euthanizing her very sick brother.  What is charming in this episode is to surprisingly see the  soft, sympathetic side of House. At the last scene, he assured her of doing the same mercy-killing when Huntington’s hold knocks at her door. But of course it wouldn’t be House without a follow up kick script: “I´d do it now if you want to. I have a baseball bat in the back.” :>

Like House, ravens are better known for its villainous side. They are black and greedy and mean. Moses’ law regarded them unclean and in Proverbs, they are the eye-pickers called to punish rebellious children. They eat the young of other birds and expel their own from their nest. So brute and beastly! And yet in today’s verse, we see them being used by God to twice-a-day feed a major prophet. Picture this: uncaring birds bringing care? omnivorous birds delivering bread and meat? Here’s the highlight: In famine!  So unimaginably impossible! Care to guess why House all of a sudden turned soft in season 7? It was because he found love in Cuddy. Job 38:41says God hears the cry of young ravens and provides for them. Jesus reiterated their value in God’s sight in Luke 12. God loves them and as part of His creation, called them good. They were centerstaged as the first creatures to fly around the newly-washed earth in Noah’s time. And now, He’s performing another miracle through them.  Amazing grace!

Thieving birds. Father of omens. Messengers of death. These names show how ancient people poorly regard ravens. So like how we call some people ‘black sheep’, ‘son of a …’, or ‘dirty tramp’. Our parents call them bad company, teachers expect none from their papers, movies kill them all in the end. And if you’re one of them, you’d soon come to own and believe it was your destiny to fail. But God sees us otherwise. He saw us good when He formed us in our mother’s womb. He watches our going out and lying down. He hears our silent cries and feels our deepest pains. And when all others marked us hopeless, God calls us to serve His purposes, to show men of His grace. Jesus came for us, sinners. His final act on earth was to a thief on a cross. He invited him to eternal life and he received it. Same gift we’re being offered. Take it and soar anew. And when you see other ravens still picking on others’ eyes, don’t label them with names you too once had. Grace is what they need. And soon, His grace they will give:>