Topic: Unsafe World, Uncertain Times
Contributor: Wong Chai Kee
Date: January 2009

It's an unsafe world. One of our very own, a brave, bright and beautiful lawyer, was gunned down in cold blood by terrorists in a brand-name Mumbai hotel, mere hours after her suc cessful business presentation. You don't have to be at the warfront or a crime scene to risk death. Anyone could be struck down, anytime, anywhere.   No one is safe.  

Safety threatened, we show courage . We resign ourselves to fate. We refuse to let terror stop us from working, living, and travelling . Sensible responses surely - to live otherwise is to die before we are dead. Anyway, to who m can we entrust our life?

Listen to the Psalmist (139:10): " Even there, Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me fast. "

Worse than an unsafe world is when change unhinges our lives suddenly, senselessly . One moment it's euphoria. Next, eruptions. Tragedy strikes, unannounced. John Lennon said with unintended prescience about his own death, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy ma king other plans." The author of the travel bestseller, 100 Things to Do Before You Die, died, age 47, hitting his head in a fall at home.

Uncertainty makes us hunker down to preserve what's dear to us and milk what's left of life.   A gym rat 's 2009 resolution: "Better climb the Great Wall before the world ends " - self-fulfilment prevails. Eat well, exercise more, look good - self-care prevails. Uncertainty makes people think again, "Family's what matters " - self-for -the-family prevails. Spend wisely - self- prudence prevails. These four self-centric principles can't be bad. After all ...

The Times They are a-Changin'. When Bob Dylan wrote this Sixties song young people fel t they could change the world. Now people the world over fear being tsunamie d by a wobbling world. Recession will be long and deep; we don't know how long, how deep.  

Oil price s scaled US$147 a barrel in July 2008, fuelling talk of $250, then dived below $40 in December, triggering talk of $25. The world's top insurance company turned Titanic .  
Triple-A bonds became triple trouble. We're now hanging on to jobs ... Soon it'll be just hanging on. Make a prediction, political or apocalyptical, the opposite happens. With uncertainty as the new constant, the four self-steadying principles look laudable.   But would they define me as a Christian?

With these principles we can endure. With God we will prevail .

But where do I place God amid insecurity and uncertainty? Is God my name for 'fate'? Is God another solution, worse, my last-ditch crutch, cast aside once the credit crunch eases and firm footing returns? Is God a niche in my life, or am I locking myself into His plan? Is God my Rock of Ages, or merely my Rock for this rocky age?

As 2009 spurts unpredictable drama, is my soul longing for God as a deer longs for flowing streams (Psalm 42:1)? Or am I restricting God to playing 24/7 service-provider for rescue, resuscitation and recovery?

Which GOD principle am I operating with? Is He my God-Over-Demands, or merely my God-On-Demand?

It is His right hand that holds me fast ; I must take it to lead me all the way.

 

 

BACK TO TOP