Lord, establish my feet when the ground under my feet is shown to be sinking sand. Teach me to trust you and stand on solid ground. To either stand firm in faith, or be not firm at all - those are the two choices. Cause me to find full confidence, full rest, and full security on the only solid Rock.

Show me that that the solid Rock is holy ground. That the place on which I stand is consecrated, not by human ritual or worship, but by your very Presence. For if you do not go with us, how will the nations know that we are yours? So turn your face to look upon us, and grant us the light of your countenance, and the blessing of your Presence with us. Thus even the valley of Baca becomes a place of springs, and pools spring forth where the desert was.

Show me what it means to stand in the shadow of the Cross. For when you mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But because Jesus was struck down, in Him I can stand, forgiven. To know my sins expiated, peace with God, and conscience cleansed. To know the Father's embrace, the friendship of the Helper and the joy of heaven's home. I linger then, in the shadow of what He achieved there.

So lest I fall, support me and hold me up, O Shield and Strength of the weak. Be glorified in my faltering weakness. Be magnified in my anonymity, my ignominy, my insignificance. Take the nothings of this world for your great purposes. Use the invisible to reveal your glory. For those who have none, have all in you. Those who fall short, find abundance in you. Those pressed down, find freedom in you.

All this we pray boldly in the name of Jesus, Amen.

"He is the true Father, that hath a quicker pace in meeting, than the prodigal hath in returning;"

Stephen Charnock, "On the Goodness of God"

Source: https://www.monergism.com/goodness-god-1

Your son shall come us to prepare Your reproach he bears away! Elizabeth, hide no more away He will turn us to the light  He will turn us to the light God has brought you home from far-off lands  The Redeemer fills your house Naomi, wipe your tears away  Look the harvest time has come Look the harvest time has come Refrain So do not be afraid, do not be afraid For unto us is born this day: Christ the Lord!

After years of hoping, waiting long When all schemes and dreams are past Sarah, put your shame away And your lips will laugh again And your lips will laugh again He the serpent’s head will bruise and crush He clothes us in His peace Eve, He takes our curse away And is making all things new He is making all things new 

"And are we yet alive, And see each other's face? Glory and praise to Jesus give For His redeeming grace. Preserved by power divine To full salvation here, Again in Jesus' praise we join, And in His sight appear. What troubles have we seen, What conflicts have we passed, Fightings without, and fears within, Since we assembled last. But out of all the Lord Hath brought us by His love; And still He doth His help afford, And hides our life above. Then let us make our boast Of His redeeming power, Which saves us to the uttermost, Till we can sin no more. Let us take up the cross Till we the crown obtain; And gladly reckon all things loss, So we may Jesus gain."

Charles Wesley, 1749

“I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”

John Wesley's Covenant Prayer, used throughout the Methodist churches, especially at the start of a new year.

Some words for 2024

As we enter into a new year, some approach the year with a sense of foreboding and fear, others with a sense of opportunity and excitement. Still others look at the days to come with a certain coolness of spirit - a disinterest and detachment - that is neither excited nor anxious, because we cannot tell what tomorrow will bring. Truly as James 4 reminds us, we are merely a mist, and we should neither say with certitude that we know what tomorrow will bring, for only He that is eternal, unchanging and enduring can speak of tomorrow with certainty. Still, at risk of presumption, 2024 looks like it will be characterised by at least five things:

First, a measure of fine flour will be sold for a shekel - the turbulence of geopolitics, decoupling and inflation. For most of the last semisesquicentennial after the great World Wars, the world has remained in relative peace with an integrated global order characterised by American dominance and the flourishing of liberal democracy, global trade and interdependence and the unfettered flow of goods and services the world over. Today, that world order has been severely disrupted most significantly as China rises, stumbling, to take its place as a major geopolitical, economic and military power competing strategically with the United States. This competition has spilled over into multiple domains - from trade, capital, proxy states, theatres of conflict, naval access, military technology and sponsorship to digital applications and semiconductor chip manufacturing. So intense has the competition become that markets have begun to “decouple” as the world splits into two playgrounds each with its own Big Brother trying to assemble friends, lackeys and allies. This has driven up global prices and hotted up inflation, which had already been aggravated by the recent pandemic’s impact on global trade. Things will become more expensive. The world will continue to be pulled into different directions. Flashpoint issues - none greater than the issues of Taiwan’s independence - closely watched in the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election, will become intensely hot. Will these two superpowers learn to get along? How will their relationship mold every other bilateral and multilateral relationship in the world? How will it affect the global economy, stock market, your company and your working agenda this year? This question will mark the rest of the century.

Second, the days of wars and rumors of wars. No one expected 2023 to bring us not one but two major conflicts with massive international ramifications. Since 1945 major war on the European continent has been thought unthinkable. Since 1973 major incursions on the modern state of Israel has been thought unthinkable. Both of those assumptions have been upturned, and without prior warning. Putin’s war on Ukraine has not gone as he has hoped, but it would appear that international support for Ukraine is starting to wane. Will the United States be able to continue funding Zolensky’s admirable campaign against the regional superpower or will domestic pressures choke out American funding? In Israel, international support for the Israeli retaliation has already dried up, even though Prime Minister Netanyahu insists that Israel will go it alone for months until all the taken hostages are returned by Hamas. Meanwhile every day that Israel continues its occupation of the Gaza enrages both Muslims and the global community who see the human cost of that war. Iranian-funded Houthis have risen in solidarity and taken up arms in the Red Sea, imperling global trade around the Suez Canal even further. Will this give rise to more intifidas and acts of terror in solidarity? What will be left in Palestine when the dust settles and how will it change the Middle East? In the meantime how much more can our interconnected world endure from rising costs of war in the Middle East? How will these events impact where you live, what you have to give up and what you have to do?

Third, the world pursues misanthropy and assaults the image of God. From the original design in Creation, Man was meant to image and mirror God’s likeness in being male and female as His imagebearers to all Creation. However in sin, we have tarnished that likeness in numerous ways, many of which are now showing up in at least three secular discourses:

The climate crisis facing our world - part of the Genesis narrative is the delegation of man and woman to be vice-regents over the world that God has made. We are to tend life in the garden, image God to the Creation, and receive it as a gift given for our food and nourishment. Yet far from being that one family given stewardship over the garden for good by God, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COPS28) closed in December 2023 by acknowledging that little progress has been made to steer humanity from the course of reaching its 1.5 degree increase limit. In other words, our way of life continues marching towards the point of destruction as we consume fuels and produce power in a way that makes the outcome inevitable. Will our secular language continue to fall short of humanity’s great sin and failures to steward God’s earth? Will we look for new ways to speak of sin, greed, pride and self-interest - the many ways we have tarnished God’s holy image? Friends, is there also a need to evaluate your own personal relationship to waste and consumption, at home or at work, as we think about our stewardship of God’s earth?

Anxiety over Artificial Intelligence - will the data that powers our collective experience, insight and creativity - a reflection of what we are, powered by cloud and quantum computing show us that the sum of human existence is less than the whole? With the rise of ChatGPT at the tail end of 2022, executives, workers, creatives and are terrified at seeing the leaps and bounds of AI’s potential and the risk that we will lose our jobs. The irony in all of this is that what it means to be human is precisely the question raised if what we have made in our collective “image” is faster, more networked, informed, insightful and intelligent than we are. Is there nothing more to being human than being human if our collective consciousness can do what we do? How has AI caused you anxiety at work last year? How will it change the work for the year to come?

The war over gender and identity- champions of women’s suffrage will claim that the battle for equal rights began much earlier than the 1960s. In 2023 the issue of abortion in the United States has freshly been invigorated by the striking down of Roe v. Wade by the USSC. But in this modern, even post-modern era, the gender wars have long moved beyond what it means to be male and female and to be recognised as such. Today the fight is for the rights of the same-sex attracted, and on to the rights of the gender fluid. Gender identity is not an assigned category as much as it is a way of seeing one’s self. But the waves of the sexual and trans revolution have begun to crash against the hard surface of the shore. In parts of the world where trans rights had been thought enshrined we have seen something of walking back of support for pro-trans positions as in areas of transition treatment or gender-affirming treatment for minors and trans women in women’s sports. How will humanity continue to reject the way that God has made us - male and female - in the days ahead and how will this conflict intensify? What choices will we need to make - especially those of us with children or with interactions with small children - how will we need to speak, model and teach on these issues?

Fourth, we will see more of life in an “Ecclesiastes 12” world. All around the world, we see a “hyperaging” phenomenon, but especially in developing countries like Singapore. Related to our misanthropy (above), falling birthrates and the declining respect for marriage, parenting and the role of the family show how our common humanity is marked by a dislike for other humans. Pet ownership is on the rise whereas parenting is on the decline. Unwittingly this contributes to our hyperageing where there are less babies relative to the aged. In Singapore, one of the advanced and prosperous nations in the world, one out of every four persons will be aged 65 and above by 2030. We will live increasingly in an Ecclesiastes 12 world - a world where we see a growing concern for healthcare, wellness and longevity where the body deteriorates and its related concerns increase. This will impact how we think about our costs, duties, where we live, how we live, our worship, spiritual formation, our relationships, obligations, freedoms and every part of life. How will we prepare for the needs of our seniors in the days ahead? What needs do we need to prepare for as a result?

Fifth, the wheat and tares will continue to grow. Without a doubt, the words of Matthew 13 will come to mark 2024 as we see the continued growth of both the true church of Christ growing like lifegiving nutritious wheat, and the world and its counterfeit of God’s holy church, like tares or weeds, growing alongside the wheat. At times it may even be confusing to distinguish between the two. There may be well-meaning believers who think they are spreading truth but actually propagating error. There may be sexual abusers and those who hurt others lurking in our communities. There may even be unrepentant believers, rejecting church discipline and shepherding, persisting in their wayward pursuit of sin, self and idolatry, living in close proximity to the people of God. Nowhere in the parable are we promised that the wheat grows independently from the growing weeds. But we are assured that both will grow and remain till the end, where they will be a sorting by the Farmer. In what ways will we see the church grow this year? Will it be in missions where the Gospel advances to the nations? Or will it be in the raising up of new leaders, preachers and evangelists for the sake of Christ’s name? Or will there be a harvest of people coming into the gathered feast, reclining at table and enjoying the fellowship of His people? Is there a need for a personal reset as we think about the growth of the wheat and weeds - what needs to change in your life as a result?

In the face of all these likely anticipations, what are God’s people to do as we think and look to the future? Two Scriptures come to mind, which are really one exhortation.

First, hear the words of Deuteronomy 6:6: “these words I command you today shall be on your heart”. Moses will go on to urge his hearers to bind the words of the Torah to the frontlets of their eyes and on their hands, so they can speak of them to family and friends everywhere they go. In other words, to be a people of the Word of God, anchored, rooted and established to the unchanging commands of the living God. While the world around us changes, let us remain steadfast, committed and immovable. To do this, we need a discipline of ever setting God’s Word before our eyes and hands. What we see and what we do must reflect that priority and that concern. To borrow the words of the Wesleys in their Watchnight covenant prayer of committment, we should aim to live according to God’s will guided by God’s Word: “I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,  you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.”

Second, heeding the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:24–27, build your house on the Rock: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

If Deut 6 calls us to keep God’s Words in our heart in inner conformity, Matthew 7 calls us to trust and obey God’s Word by living them out in outward conformity. Jesus’ exhortation is clear - wisdom is to hear Jesus and do what He says. That is the equivalent of building your house on the Rock, the true, unchanging and immovable foundation that is stable and safe. When the storms of life land - the storms of geopolitics and macroeconomics, of wars, of cultural and societal revolution and church rise and fall - your foundations will all be revealed. 

Friends, be Bible-built for 2024. Take His Word into your heart and build your life on it. There is no warmer light for your soul and no safer foundation for your house. 

What was 2023 like?

It was a year of returning to some normalcy post-COVID-19, especially in the area of international travel. More than ever in recent years, I had new experiences seeing the world for ministry, work and personal purposes. I travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Barcelona and Tokyo on three separate work trips for exchange, diplomacy and foreign relations. For ministry there was also a teaching and training visit to Tacloban City in the Philippines early in the year, which as encouraging indeed.

This culminated in a new work situation that I began only in April. Along with that came new workplace, new colleagues, new situations, new assignments and new anxieties. Work is one of those things that really consumes so much of your time and energy that it affects all others. I even travelled for this new role this same year.

They say that travel changes a man, and causes you to let go of preconceived ways of seeing the world. In that sense, last year was also a year of saying goodbye to heroes, seniors and family members. The loss of leaders like Tim Keller, Charles Stanley and Harry Reeder will be sharply felt. In particular, the passing of Tim Keller after a long struggle against cancer, was mourned the world over. More privately the passing of my maternal auntie, and R’s maternal auntie, all of whom professed faith in the end, will be sharply felt in our families. Towards the end of the year the surprising passing of a young man from church circles was also full of grief.

There were also moments of profound struggle and hurt as we had to deal with matters of church discipline, and we also saw instances of fruitlessness in life and ministry. These moments can turn us towards doubt, fear and loneliness even from one another as we feel the need to self-preserve and turn in on ourselves. Thank God for the grace of reaching out and being reached in godly community amid these moments.

Still change takes different forms as life moves on into different stages. Dad struggled with mobility this year after his fall and we see the effects of age setting in for our parents. For our friends, we saw more of them move into the N area, while others had newborns enter their lives - some the first child, others the second, and still others, twins.

Change was afoot in the church as we welcomed new members and new pastors. Rachel and I transited from the interim care group to starting our own new care group, and I also relinquished overall leadership of the CG after four years. We started a new conference series on BHC and welcomed MD to Singapore for the first time as we made new networks and friends in the region.

And what did God teach us from His Word? We were in Exodus, Hebrews and Isaiah for most of the year — big books that proclaim the grace of God for us in Christ, that perfect God-Man and faithful Servant of the Lord. At points though we struggled with His Word, we were reminded frequently of His glory and power, His wisdom and plan, and His grace and mercy. The Lord will not fail, His Servant is at work.

2023 was indeed the year of Developing. And how will that development proceed into 2024? More Depth? New Dreams? Or Delight?

My song shall bless the LORD of all,

My praise shall climb to his abode;

Thee, Savior, by that name I call,

The great Supreme, the mighty GOD.

Without beginning, or decline,

Object of faith, and not of sense;

Eternal ages saw him shine,

He shines eternal ages hence.

As much, when in the manger laid,

Almighty ruler of the sky;

As when the six days’ works he made,

Filled all the morning–stars with joy.

Of all the crowns Jehovah bears,

Salvation is his dearest claim;

That gracious sound well–pleased he hears,

And owns Emmanuel for his name.

A cheerful confidence I feel,

My well–placed hopes with joy I see;

My bosom glows with heav’nly zeal

To worship him who died for me.

As man, he pities my complaint,

His pow’r and truth are all divine;

He will not fail, he cannot faint,

Salvation’s sure, and must be mine.

John Newton

“O God, early in the morning I cry to you.

Help me to pray and gather my thoughts to you, I cannot do it

alone.

In me it is dark, but with you there is light;

I am lonely, but you do not desert me;

My courage fails me, but with you there is help;

I am restless, but with you there is peace;

in me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;

I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me.

Father in Heaven praise and thanks be to you for the night.”

“The older I get, the less impressed I am with flashy successes and enthusiasms that are not truth-based. Everybody knows that with the right personality, the right music, the right location, and the right schedule you can grow a church without anybody really knowing what doctrinal commitments sustain it, if any. Church-planting specialists generally downplay biblical doctrine in the core values of what makes a church ‘successful.’ The long-term effect of this ethos is a weakening of the church that is concealed as long as the crowds are large, the band is loud, the tragedies are few, and persecution is still at the level of preferences.

But more and more this doctrinally-diluted brew of music, drama, life-tips, and marketing seems out of touch with real life in this world–not to mention the next. It tastes like watered-down gruel, not a nourishing meal. It simply isn’t serious enough. It’s too playful and chatty and casual. It’s joy doesn’t feel deep enough or heartbroken or well-rooted. The injustice and persecution and suffering and hellish realities in the world today are so many and so large and so close that I can’t help but think that, deep inside, people are longing for something weighty and massive and rooted and stable and eternal. So it seems to me that the trifling with silly little sketches and breezy welcome-to-the-den styles on Sunday morning are just out of touch with what matters in life.

Of course, it works. Sort of. Because, in the name of felt needs it resonate with people’s impulse to run from what is most serious and weighty and what makes them most human and what might open the depths of God to their souls. The design is noble. Silliness is a stepping stone to substance. But it’s an odd path. And evidence is not ample that many are willing to move beyond fun and simplicity. So the price of minimizing truth-based joy and maximizing atmosphere-based comfort is high. More and more, it seems to me, the end might be in view. I doubt that a religious ethos with such a feel for entertainment can really survive as Christian for too many more decades.”

John Piper, “Counted Righteous In Christ”

We Come, O Christ, To You

Written by Edith Margaret Clarkson (1946)

We come, O Christ, to you, true Son of God and man, by whom all things consist, in whom all life began. In you alone we live and move and have our being in your love.

You are the way to God, your blood our ransom paid; in you we face our Judge and Maker unafraid. Before the throne absolved we stand; your love has met your law's demand.

You are the living truth; all wisdom dwells in you, the source of every skill, the one eternal True! O great I AM! in you we rest, sure answer to our every quest.

You only are true life to know you is to live the more abundant life that earth can never give. O risen Lord! we live in you: in us each day your life renew!

We worship you, Lord Christ, our Savior and our King; to you our youth and strength adoringly we bring: so fill our hearts that all may view your life in us and turn to you!

God of grief, God of sorrow

Do you see these tears that fall?

God of comfort, God of tomorrow

Hear our brokenhearted call.

God of the nails, God of the suffering

You who know the pain of loss

God of despair, God of the puzzling

You who gave up Life at the Cross.

God of our silence, God of the resting

Fermata - pause - on Sabbath day

God of mourning, God of our testing

Wisely waits, patience displays.

God of greater hope, God surprising

The tomb unseals, Love's voice is heard

God of new life, God of the rising

Resurrection has the final word.

God of the heavens, God of glory

Dwells in unapproachable light

God of faith, God of the story

Help us see with Faith's clear sight.

Additions to my growing repository of Keller resources:

- How do you take criticism of your views?

- The decline and renewal of the Western church

- Reconstructing faith: Christianity in a new world

- Growing my faith in the face of death