Author: Elaine Tambunan

“Thank you.”  “Thanks!” “ Thx.” 

A simple phrase, but effective nonetheless. In fact, people say this phrase roughly five times every day and around two thousand times every year on average. Why do we say thank you? We say it to, well, thank people, as a sign of appreciation for the good things that others give us and help us with. 

All of us have been taught that this is one of the basic foundations for common etiquette from young ages. Perhaps that’s why we say thank you so automatically – to our friends, teachers, parents (I hope so!), siblings, and even strangers that help us in our daily lives. 

So how would you feel if you helped someone, but they didn’t thank you?

Sad?

Angry?

Frustrated?

I’d feel the same. 

But unfortunately, that’s something we do so much of the time. 

Let me ask you another question: How many times every day do you thank God?

Once? Twice? Maybe only before you eat, or sleep?

I realise that I’ll never be able to thank Him enough for the extent of His grace and mercy. But, I also know that I haven’t put much effort into thanking Him either. Before we delve further, let’s look at the times the Bible (God’s Word – another thing we need to thank God for!) records the instances when humans thank God.

Back to Genesis

Noah’s Ark – it’s a familiar Sunday School story to most of us. Noah and his family, the pairs of animals boarding the Ark, the flood itself  – we’ve got it memorised backwards. But rereading it, there’s a part that often gets overlooked. After the water receded and the ark came to rest on Ararat, Noah and his family came out of the Ark, along with all the animals. What was the first thing that Noah did? 

“Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it” – Genesis 8:20

In other words, the first thing he did was thank God. He offered a sacrifice to God in thanksgiving, worshipping God for saving him and his family. 

Obviously, we aren’t in danger of any world-class floods. But we have been saved – saved from our own sin and eternal death. The story of salvation is so familiar to us, that we lose the wholehearted gratitude and thankfulness that should instantly light up our heart every time we hear the Good News. The joyful gratitude is replaced with a slightly bored attitude. But think about it – we did absolutely nothing to deserve this mercy. No amount of good works, thoughts or intentions could achieve and buy us eternal life compared to the overwhelming mountain of sins that we have committed. Let us thank God with renewed joy!

What about hard times?

It’s easy to thank God in the good times – when everything is going well, and our own lives are comfortable. It’s much harder to thank Him when we experience bad times. Usually, when we suffer, our prayers consist of much complaining and groaning. In times like those, the priority of my prayers often shift from “Thank you God!” to a pleading, “Take me out of this suffering!” 

If we look into the Old Testament, we can see that Daniel definitely faced plenty of hard times. Darius the king of the Medes and Persians had decreed that all the people of the land must only worship the king – otherwise they would face the lions. 

But what did Daniel do?

“Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before” – Daniel 6:10

How could Daniel give thanks in such a time like that!? Yet he did so – and personally, I don’t think I would have if were him. What could Daniel possibly thank God for?

Flipping several pages backward, we can find answers – in the book of Psalms. Wars, persecution, and many attempted killings – King David faced these all. But in Psalms, we can find some of the most earnest and wholehearted prayers of thanksgiving that were written by him. 

In Psalm 9, he laments, “LORD, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death!” But, as we read on we see that he is still able to thank Him for His mercy and justice, for being his “refuge and fortress”, and a very sure and “very present help in trouble.”

“I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;

    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and rejoice in you;

    I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.” – Psalms 1:2

The reason that Daniel, David, and even us now, can thank God is because we can trust in Him – we can trust that He will always protect us, love us, and be with us in any circumstance that we find ourselves in, good or bad. 

Keeper of Promises

God is merciful – we often ignore that.

God is faithful – we often doubt that.

God keeps His promises – we often forget to thank Him. 

I’ve made a lot of promises – to friends, to parents, even to God – but I’m guilty of not keeping all of them. Unlike us however, God keeps his promises.

If we read the first chapter of Luke, we are met with a miraculous scene – Mary, a young virgin betrothed to a carpenter named Joseph, is suddenly faced with the news of a lifetime. Not only is it delivered by an angel, but he tells her that she is to be the mother of the long awaited Messiah, the Son of God. Wow!

What is her response?

If you read on, to Luke 1:46, you’ll see that she thanked God. The verses following are now called ‘Mary’s Song’, and it is a beautiful and poetic exaltation, praising God’s timeless faithfulness to His people. She praises God for keeping His promises to His weak and hungry people, blessing and protecting them with His grace and justice, “remembering to be merciful… just as he promised our (Israel’s) ancestors.”

“My soul glorifies the Lord

    and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” – Luke 1:46

Mary isn’t the only one who thanked God for keeping His promises. Luke mentions another woman who was met with a miraculous answer to God’s promises. 

Anna, a prophetess from the tribe Asher, had lived in the temple as a widow, praising God day and night. When Mary and Joseph came to the temple to perform the traditional purification rites required by Jewish law for baby Jesus, Anna saw the child, and she immediately gave thanks to God. Why did she give thanks? She gave thanks because she knew that God had fulfilled His promise through Jesus Christ – His promise of salvation and redemption for His people was complete in the sending of the Messiah, God’s only Son. 

So now, how can we thank God?

There are so many things that we can thank God for, that I haven’t even scraped the surface. Likewise, there are many ways we can thank God. When we thank others, we don’t always say it verbally. We sometimes text a message of thanks, give a card, or we give a present or gift. I know I’ve given friends brownies before, to say thanks for their help and friendship. Of course, we can’t ‘text’ God, but there are several ways we can thank God.

Prayer

An obvious one is prayer. But as the song goes, “You can whisper in a crowd to Him.

You can cry when you’re alone to Him. You don’t have to pray out loud to Him; he knows your thoughts.” 

Don’t limit your prayer life to hungry and sleepy amens. You can pray in thanksgiving to Him anytime – when you’re doing your chores, or when you find your mind wandering. 

Another way we can remember to thank Him in prayer daily is to set apart a few minutes everyday, with minimum distractions, to just wholeheartedly and devotedly thank Him. A few minutes set apart for thanksgiving daily is nothing compared to all the years He has blessed us with. 

Music 

Martin Luther says that “Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men.” We can not only thank God for music, but we can thank God with music. 

Remember David?

He praised God through music, through voice and lyre. 

Remember Mary?

She praised God through music, through her song of worship.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s in the form of singing hymns during Sunday service or by playing an instrument in your church’s orchestra. Along with Mary, David and countless others, we too can also praise God through music. 

Live in thankfulness to Him

Giving thanks to God isn’t limited only to words or actions. We can live in thankfulness for Him. When our hearts focus more and more on thankfulness to God, and less on ourselves, we become less selfish and less proud. Because everything we enjoy today, from objects to people, was given by Him. Every second of our lives are a gift from God. So if we are truly thankful, we will not waste it for an idle lifestyle of scrolling through social media. We will cherish and treasure our time, and instead use it for God and His glory. 

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”  – Psalm 100:4

As we go about our daily lives, practising the seemingly endless cycle of going to school, home and church, it’s an inevitable fact that we encounter a variety of people. These people we interact with include our teachers, parents, siblings, friends and many more that cannot be counted. Yet, our human nature causes us to treat each one differently. 

How many of us realise that the status of each person determines the way we interact with them, from the manner in which we address them to the activities that we choose to do with them. An obvious example is the difference in the way we talk to our teachers and our friends. 

For example, nothing on earth could compel me to whisper my deepest secrets to my teachers, but I would willingly reveal them in the presence of my closest friends. In the same way, I can expect help with my assignments from my teachers. However, I could hardly demand my friends to do so. Even though I respect both parties, their position in reference to mine differentiates the way I communicate and interact with them.

And this leads us to the million-dollar question: How, then, should we interact with God, whose authority and position surpasses all human wisdom? When we pray to God, how should we address him? As a father? A friend? A teacher? 

The answer: All of the above! If you delve into the Bible, you will find that it contains numerous human analogies which guide us in which way and manner we should treat and talk to Him. Our limited human minds cannot grasp even the very essence of God, but through these analogies, we may learn to understand God’s person. 

In his well-known theological book, Knowing God, J.L. Packer, a famous evangelist and Christian writer, discusses in-depth what exactly knowing God consists of, and its practical importance in our lives. He outlines three main analogies featured in the Bible, which teaches us to know – not only in theory, but in a personal relationship – Him better. 

1. As a subject to a KING

If you were to meet the Queen, how would you speak to her? Obviously, you will be required to speak to her with the utmost respect, recognising that it is a rare honour to do so. 

The Bible describes Jesus’ position as one of a King, one who is sovereign over all creation. Revelation 19:16 says, “On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” Not only does all authority of all the domains on earth belong to Jesus and Jesus alone, but He is the King of each and every heart of a true believer because He has freed us from the bondage of sin when no one else could. With his precious blood, he has ransomed us, and if we are truly saved, our lives must be dedicated under His rule.

Therefore, as a subject, what are our duties?

Even if we do not completely understand why, or even if we can’t see the point of obeying, we must obey His commands, having faith that God’s plan is the best for His kingdom. Obedience also means that we cannot choose what laws we want to obey or not. Total obedience means accepting and following what God tells us to do without stalling, arguing, or complaining. 

Our service to our King isn’t only limited to obedience either. We are required to praise Him too. “Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!” (Psalm 47:6-7) We praise Him every Sunday at church, when the congregation sings together, but we can also praise Him through other forms of ministry. 

2. As a sheep that knows their SHEPHERD

I recall watching a video that featured a variety of people calling to a flock of sheep. Each person had no response, yet when the real shepherd called out to them, they immediately turned towards him and followed him outside the pasture. Just like this authentic example, the Bible labels true believers as sheep who respond only to the voice of their Shepherd, who is Jesus Christ.

The sheep follow His call because they trust Him. They trust Him, knowing that He will protect them from danger – “The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11) – and will lead them to a place of quiet rest – “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” (Psalm 21:6). Even though we know we can trust our Shepherd, I still find that my trust in Him wavers in times of difficulty. There is no recipe or to-do list that we must complete to obtain trust in Jesus, but we can only grow to trust in Him when we talk with Him daily. 

“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” (John 10:3-5) Do we know our Shepherd’s voice? The sheep recognises the Shepherd’s voice because they have heard Him countless times and can differentiate Him from a stranger’s voice.

In this modern era that boasts innumerable temptations, it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate our Shepherd’s voice. There is only one way to become familiar with His voice – by continuous study and meditation of His Word. I still struggle with remembering to do devotions daily and concentrating during sermons, but continuous exposure to His Word will teach us to recognise His voice.

3. As a child to their FATHER 

Before we address this point, I want to point out that there are a wide variety of earthly fathers. I am blessed to have a patient father who cares for me, yet there are those out there whose fathers have failed them and have even hurt them. But God is an unfailing Father, one who has an unfailing love for His children and will never fail them, unlike fathers on earth. He is sovereign and eternal.

Because of Christ’s sacrifice, replacing us on that fateful cross, we are sanctified in His priceless blood, and God the Father lovingly adopts us as His children. Just as a child does nothing to deserve their father’s care and love, we do not deserve God’s fatherly love towards us, rebellious children who so often break His heart. That is why we can trust in Him with child-like dependence, and we know “that as a father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” (Psalm 103:13)

But a loving father does not only bless His children. If a father really loves his child, he will rebuke them when they have sinned, doing so in order to lead them back to the right path and so that they will not head for destruction.

I admit there are times when God has punished me, either through my earthly parents or other means, and I shook my fist at Him in taunting rebellion, accusing Him of hating me. But now, I realise that He punished me in love. “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:11-12) Submit with a humble heart under His rebuke, trusting that He does so in perfect love and wisdom.

Mere words cannot fully describe the person of God. You can only truly discover who He is through your own personal experience of His love, faithfulness and sovereignty, and as we uncover the answer, day by day, let this change our lives and attitude towards Him, our King, Shepherd and eternal Father.

As the sun beat down onto the flattened grass path, the long-awaited runner finally came into view in the distance. Her sweat drenched hair was flattened against her head, and the beads of perspiration on her forehead glinted in the vibrant sunlight. Her ragged breaths came out of her parched lips, gasping at the almost unbearable strain of her legs. But it was clear that the runner had her eyes fixed on one thing and one thing only- the finish line.

In his letter to the Corinthiains, Paul compares our lives as Christians to a race competed in by trained determined runners.  Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize… They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. “ (1 Corinthians 9:21-24)

But as we run this exhausting race of life as Christians, it’s clear that  sometimes we fall, get distracted or discouraged, and we forget the true motivation that drives our feet forward and gives us the strength to complete it. Sometimes our endurance fails, and we allow our feet to stray from the right path. 

But before we can start running to our fullest, every true runner knows that we must learn the race course first. 

The race course of life

It is pointless to train without knowing the path set out for us. What exactly does the race course consist of for us as Christians?

1. Share His Word

Jesus Christ himself has instructed us to proclaim the gospel to the nations, seen in the Great Commission.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). He instructs us to be ‘teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’ , whether it be to the multitudes or to a single friend. A warning from one fellow runner of Christ to another – you will not and cannot be able to share God’s saving gospel to any person if you do not ‘know’ it. I am not referring to an intellectual perspective of ‘knowing’ – such as memorising catechisms and Bible verses – but to ‘know’ in a personal way. A more accurate definition can be found in the original Greek of this word, translating to ‘ginosko’. Ginosko means to know through personal experience and an intimate relationship cultivated through time spent together. We often forget to spend time reading and meditating on His Word in our rushed daily lives, but without a relationship with God, all our service in His name will be in vain.

2. Obey His Truth

In Galatians 5:7, we see Paul rebuking the Galatian church saying, ‘You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?” As we stride upon the path of righteousness, we must not only share His Word to others with our lips only, but we must diligently exercise the fruits of the Gospel in our lives too. Without our own bearing of spiritual fruit, we would be no more than the hypocrite Pharisees who served God with their mouths, but whose hearts served themselves only.

Training for the race

If we are to run this race to the brink of our strength, we need to recognise the hindrances liable to cause us to fall and fail, and the ways we can o’erleap these obstacles.

1. Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1) 

Anyone will admit that attempting to sprint while your feet are entangled in a cord is not only ridiculous, but highly dangerous. It must be questioned then, why only a few realise the hazard of running the race of life with your soul entangled in the net of sin! We mustn’t excuse any sin, even the smallest wrong doing that we think that God couldn’t possibly care about. For if we let sin remain in our hearts, we ‘let the devil have a foothold’ in our hearts, Just as a mere whisper can trigger an enormous avalanche, this small sin left unchecked will gradually corrupt our entire body, and lead us onto the alternative path of destruction.

2. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:3)

But some of the obstacles that agonise us the most are the ones produced by the ones closest to us. 

The persecution that we face here may not be as extreme as the torture faced by the Christians in the New Testament, and in the present day in foreign rural areas. Scorn and exclusion by the public, our classmates, our friends, or even our family often discourages us and causes us to stumble. We must recognise that as Christians running the race of life, it is impossible for us to not be treated with contempt by the world. Jesus tells all who follow Him that, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” (John 15:18) The world is stained with the filth of sin that only Jesus’ blood can wash away, but we who have been redeemed, are now an entirely new creation. The world, under the sinful bondage of sin, cannot accept us unless God opens people’s hearts.

But even here, our Coach is still faithful! His comfort through His promises in the Bible lifts us back onto the track, even from the deepest and darkest holes we fall into in our life. He encourages us to strive on with grit and perseverance through the community of Christians, both the men and women of God who have completed the race that we can learn from, and the family of believers that we run together with now. 

The finish line

After countless trips and falls, and now with a pounding heart keeping in accelerated rhythm with the thudding of feet on the well-worn track, we approach the finish line. 

Our eyes fixed on Christ, we can anticipate with eagerness the glorious crown of salvation  we will receive upon finishing the race that is promised to all believers who love and seek the Lord with all their hearts. (James 1:12). 

And then we will be able to declare, just like Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

It’s already late, but fortunately, you’re still upbeat and energetic! Good thing too, because there’s a maths test coming up and it’s pretty important that you take some time to study the material. Everything is set up nice and neat as you pick up your pen. A few maths questions solved, the motivation starts to decline rapidly. Your phone starts buzzing – it’s a text from your best friend. With a moment’s hesitation, you pick up your phone intending to answer it quickly, but before you know it, you’ve wasted an hour texting!

Relatable, isn’t it?

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, procrastination is  to delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it, because you are lazy, etc. Rather harsh, isn’t it? Yet it’s all too true.

The number of experiences with laziness and ‘putting off something because I don’t want to do it’ that I myself have commited will be able to stretch all the way to the moon and back. 

The reason? Idleness. Which in other terms, defines to “WE DON’T WANT TO WORK.” How many times have you made an excuse whenever your parents ask you to do a chore? How many times have you sacrificed your homework to play games or hang out with your friends? There’s really no other reason we procrastinate. But the consequences of laziness are far more dire than we imagine.

The ‘fruit’ of laziness

1. Presenting an opportunity for sin

A surprising place where we can read about the ‘fruits’ of sin is in the Word of God itself! Many verses, especially in Proverbs, talk about the consequences reaped by the idle. 

“A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man” (Proverbs 24:33-34). 

There are numerous of these frightening warnings scattered throughout the Bible, even being mentioned in Paul’s letters to the churches! “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat ” (2 Thessalonions 3:10). These instructions still apply to us today. There are many who are lazy to work or study that are reaping the physical consequences even as you read these words.

But idleness does not only hold punishment for our physical selves. Idleness is able to destroy our eternal spiritual selves. In order to grasp the full extent of this, we need to turn to 2 Samuel 11. In the beginning of the chapter, we see that “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army.” 

It is unknown the exact reason David chose to remain behind, but we know that this decision was most likely only the product of his own laziness.

“One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.” Doesn’t it seem unacceptable that David is able to sleep and take walks while the rest of his army was fighting tirelessly? 

“From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful.” And here arrives the temptation! And as we read on, we see that his sin of adultery with the woman (Batheshba) led to a whole chain of punishments and negative outcomes – murder, not the least of them.

And this all started with David’s choice to not fight with his army! This leads to the second spiritual consequence.

2. Neglecting God’s instructions

We know God has a will for our lives – to bear our cross and complete our duty to the best of our ability. How many times have we uttered the words – “Your kingdom come, Your WILL be done” in church?

But practising this is far harder, which we discover after countless falls and stumbles. Not only is it inconvenient and difficult to work, it’s also unpleasant compared to the fun stuff that we know we could be doing. 

We already know all that. But what we often don’t realise or think about is that not doing what God tells us to do is actually a sin.  There are sins of omission – and there are sins of commission. Put in simpler terms, there are two types of sins: the sin of neglecting His laws, and the sin of not doing what He commands. “If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (John 9:14).

But if you stop to think about this deeper, you’ll start to discover that there’s no big reason that stops us from carrying out His Will in our lives. We recognise that God is sovereign, the holy and pure King of the world.

If God is holy, then everything that comes out from His mouth, no matter how strange it may seem to us, is something that can definitely be trusted and that we must obey. 

This is one of the things that make the Christian faith so unique to all the other religions in the world. The Christian faith requires an active response to our conversion, reigning over our worldly lives and leaving no room for idleness. 

So, to work or not to work? Laziness is a sin that won’t magically disappear from our souls. In fact, it will lurk around continuously, staring up at you captivatingly as you desperately try to do your everyday duties that are ordained by the Lord. Really, it is only by God’s grace if we are able to resist and complete the duty He gives us. How great is He! He helps and guides us every step of the race we take, and as we get closer and closer to our final glorious destination, let us not be hindered by the mountain of procrastination!

All of us have dreamt (or might even still be dreaming!) about being among the honored few that are enrolled into a certain prestigious school. Why do we want to enter these? The reasons vary, from their high rankings, to their distinguished achievements and benefits. But, what if we were enrolled into a school no one wanted to go to – a school of pain; a school of suffering?

A popular author, named Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, wrote the book “What Katy Did.” Any avid classic fan will recognise this title. It is enjoyed by many due to its engaging characters and plot line.

“What Katy Did” is about a schoolgirl named Katy, the eldest of five siblings whose mother had passed away a few years back. To their aunt’s exasperation, Katy is both mischievous and reckless, influencing her sisters and brothers in following suit, resulting in all sorts of scrapes and torn stockings.

Yet a terrible accident befalls Katy, without her suspecting anything wrong even moments before the tragedy. She is left crippled, her carefree life taken for granted halting to a sudden stop, being replaced with a pit of despair that had no way out.

Perhaps none of us have ever experienced suffering to this extent. Maybe some of us have, but we keep it hidden in the deepest depths of our heart. Whichever is your situation, all of us can relate to having also fallen into the same slough of despond that Katy was stuck in. And all of us will agree on this thing: suffering is something very, very bad, and something we strive to avoid at all costs.

Days drag past for Katy laying helpless in bed, and in her anguish she doesn’t care for anything outside of her pit of hopelessness – the time, the weather, her appearance, even the love that her family painstakingly lavishes on her. So many of us do the exact same thing,ignoring both the love of our family, friends, and the love and mercy of God in the midst of the pain we bear. This fault definitely applies to me as well.

Meanwhile, Katy’s dreary routine continues, until she receives a visit from her invalid Cousin Helen, who introduces Katy into looking at her current distress in a new light. She tells Katy that she has just been enrolled into the School of Pain. The lessons are difficult, she warns, but the more you delve into them, the easier and more enjoyable they become.

You will have probably joined into Katy’s slight skepticism and confusion. What are these lessons? And how could there possibly be any joy in pain?

1. The Lesson of HUMILITY

Humility is something that we have all failed in, pride being present even before the existence of man on earth. Pride was the reason that Lucifer – a former angel of God, craving more, rebelled against the truth, and was banished. Pride has since been something God hates and was what caused Samson and Saul to sin. Pride is seen in our lives whenever we exalt ourselves over others and God, through continually putting down others or putting ourselves first.

Humility, the opposite of pride and the duty of each Christian, is therefore something very hard to accept, let alone practise in our lives.

God lets his children suffer. Thomas Watson, an influential Puritan, explains that a reason He does so is to let His children realise their duty to humble themselves under Him. We do this by submitting to God, and the authority figures He places in our lives, like our parents and teachers. Whenever we exalt ourselves however, the Lord weightens his mighty hand on us, directing us back to the right path. Shockingly, despite God’s fatherly discipline, often we start to complain and defend ourselves.

An example of a figure in the Bible who humbled himself under the suffering God puts us under is David. God punished him severely, through the betrayal of his child Absalom, and the temporary loss of his kingdom. Notice David’s response – unlike Saul, his predecessor, David submitted under God’s punishment despite the mocking of a descendant of Saul named Shimei, as recorded in 2 Samuel 16. One of David’s generals is provoked and urges David to kill him. Yet David says to his general, “If he (Shimei)  is cursing because the Lord said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’”

Whenever we are tempted to remain in our prideful sin, remember this important principle: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12).

2. The Lesson of EMPATHY

Have you ever noticed that when you attempt to comfort a friend in grief, you can never fully understand or relate to their pain? 

This lesson was learnt by a certain Christian counsellor, who often prayed for those she counselled. The people who came to her for advice were facing various struggles in their lives, such as marriage problems, child-parent tensions and general struggles in their life and faith. 

Yet, the time came and the counselor herself faced a great sorrow – her own children straying away from the Lord. Despite her sadness, she noticed that ever since she experienced the sorrow shared by those she counselled, she was able to pray more fervently and personally for them, having understood and experienced it herself. Gradually her children returned to God and she rejoiced in it. However, she realised that it was through the suffering that God put her through that she was able to connect and comfort others in more depth.

It’s written in Hebrews 13:3, that we must “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”

Through suffering, we can pray for each other, our brothers and sisters in Christ, in a more intimate way.

Now, how does Katy respond to all this? Katy is willing to undertake these lessons to the best of her ability, though the lessons will be difficult and unpleasant. Cousin Helen reminds Katy that she doesn’t have to manage these lessons alone. The Great Teacher will guide her through, even when the lessons seem impossible to understand. And this promise applies to us as well.