Sreedhar's Journey

Yesterday I reflected on the need for me to hope in God. I have been questioned, in a very sincere way, how can you hope in a God you cannot see? This is a wonderful question. Today I am reading chapter 43 in Psalms and this verse jumped out at me. Psalms 43:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. David was being pursued by Saul for a good number of years. It almost seemed hopeless. You may remember the story when David should have killed Saul in the cave, but he did not. David was such a God fearing man that he would not sin against God. But the one time he committed adultery and had a man killed, he was highly repentant and God forgave him. Much of the inspiration for the book of Psalms comes from David's experiences and musical talents. You may ask, are these stories for real? Check the history books. They are. Most importantly is my personal experience with

We face daily issues in life that may create much anxiety to the point of depression. Concerns and worries may fill us and this affects our physical well-being. We have no appetite or we binge eat. If you have a poor relationship or no relationship with God, you will be significantly challenged during these times. Psalms 42:11 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. The Psalmist understood this. The best thing to ever happen is for you to hope in God. This chapter in Psalms starts with a description of how a deer looks for water. It knows it needs water. Likewise, when we are thirsty we need to look for God. Father, in my times of anxiety and worry, I will always look for you. My hope is in You.

Fake news or satire? When some creatively done writings and videos came out and were understood to be not really the truth, they called it satire. Nice word to describe in what many instances is actually fake news. They even made some people dead even though they were alive. This bad human intention has been there from ancient times. Psalms 41:8 “An evil disease,” they say, “clings to him. And now that he lies down, he will rise up no more.” Why do people want to lie? I remember days when we would say something like, "that isn't a nice thing to say". What happened to everyday niceties. We are very careful to respect or honor somebody. We open doors for strangers. We greet them on the street with a smile. We were ready to help a person in distress without fear of personal harm. Now we speak against each other and even scheme bad things. However, reading this chapter in Psalms shows that the problem is not new. Father, we need people to go back to recognizing the prese

The character of a person is best seen as the thoughts, words and actions of a person, especially when no one is looking. However, you cannot see the character of a person. It is deep within the soul of one's being. It is only in the behavior of a person that you can have some sense of their character. David's character was driven by his preoccupation with God. Psalms 40:8 I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.” Is this bad? Can anything bad come from God? Absolutely not. But, watch the latest movie from Hollywood or another entertainment hub of the world, and you see divorce (starting with separation), homosexuality (now called sexual diversity) and dishonor for those in authority (in the name of human rights). God instituted standards of behavior and human systems so that it does not break the laws of nature. Go against them and you will see chaos, like we are seeing now. We need to have God's laws in our hearts, and delight again in do

Steve Jobs, great man. Given all the creativity to create a brand called Apple and change the way man interacts with technology. Graphical user interface (GUI) was a term coined to describe the new (now old) Mac OS. But one thing Steve could not create. Life! Psalms 39:6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them. We pursue much activity in the days we are alive, but as the scripture says, we busy ourselves in vain. We have no sense of what would happen after a time. After we are dead. Even many religions grapple with this. It all depends on your relationship with the one that created LIFE. The ultimate creator. The same one that created the mind for Steve Jobs to create Apple. Put your hope in the Creator. Psalms 39:7 “And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Father, yes, my hope is truly in you.

God has made us with great potential. However, due to the original sin, the "human tendency" birth from that is to seek self gratification at the expense of general good. Basically greed has set in, and everything else that is against our God-given conscience has resulted from that. And so David is experiencing that from people around him. Psalms 38:12 Those also who seek my life lay snares for me; Those who seek my hurt speak of destruction, And plan deception all the day long. I am of the strong opinion that all man has the DNA of God to do good. When we allowed Satan to have a role in our lives, it caused the issues that we face today. When someone does wrong, speak against the influence of demonic powers in that situation. Jesus said it. Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. When we have evil thoughts, or things that are not going good, speak against the demonic works at play. When you call on God in these situations, He is ready to deliver. Jesus says, He wants t

There are many who have a thirst and a yearning for Godly endeavors. They go to places of worship almost daily. They pray everyday in special places in their homes. They make special pilgrimages. Many of them go vegetarian or complete fast in their desire to show their devotion. The Psalmist says this. Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Those who sincerely delight in God are to be commended. But, many may go through the motions but not have that true and abiding relationship with the Creator. Your actions yield nothing but false peace and poorly met desires. The biggest question is your future in eternity. You have no assurance. Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except by me. The Jews spoke of this Messiah. The Quran mentions the true position of Jesus, Isa Al-Masih. Even the ancient writings in Sanskrit anticipated the coming of the Messiah. Come to Jesus. Psalms 37:23-24, The

When I started out in my working career, it was important to be in a shirt and tie, with the occasional jacket for important client meetings. I will never forget one meeting that was called with a cabinet minister (the late Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik) and I was tasked to make a solo presentation with my client in my late 20's. I had a good white shirt and tie, but I had to run there with a borrowed jacket. I used to look out for good white cotton shirts. But after awhile the white was not white, especially when next to a "whiter" background. Real white? This is the same with light. We don't see real light until we see real light. Psalms 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. God is our fountain of life. He gives life and life more abundantly. We don't see the real light until we see His light; God's light. We stay satisfied with the light we have. But in actual fact we are shortchanging ourselves because the real light is missing

Sometimes we dislike somebody to the point that we wish something bad would happen to them. What a sad state of affairs. I know they may have done some horrible things to you or you may have been offended by a statement they made about someone else. It is very easy to dislike someone. David was feeling great dislike. Psalms 35:27 Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” The question I have is for myself. Do I dislike somebody that I am causing harm to my relationship with them, or affecting their wellbeing in general? David cried out to the Lord to vindicate himself. Like him someone could be crying out to the Lord about me. Psalms 35:17 Lord, how long will You look on? Rescue me from their destructions, My precious life from the lions. Yes, I must continuously pray that God will use me to build up, not pull down. To encourage, not discourag

The day can turn out positive or negative depending on how well it works for you. We are always seeking to fulfill the agenda that protects our interests. Call it being selfish, greedy or just plain being human. God desires that we do something else to define the day as being good. Psalms 34:13-14 Keep your tongue from evil, And your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. Can I commit to doing this? Yes! Is it easy to do? When things are going well. The last statement is quite clear. The day can be filled with one or more conflicts. This requires us to seek peace and pursue it. I am sure God knows best. I will indeed seek peace and pursue it. Father, give me the right perspectives today. I need Your agenda and your words. Bless the day your way.

I am often surprised at how the United States has gone from being a God fearing nation to one that has strong self interest. What started brewing in families at home, marriages failing, children having to self support at an early age and lack of understanding of authority, has moved into everyday life, corporate, political and judicial life. Today, this is impacting even organizations like the United Nations. Psalms 33:10 The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. But, God sees this and is saying, I am in charge. Whatever your agenda, God's agenda will prevail. You just have to look at the Tower of Babel. The people were trying to be greater than God. How does the one created get greater than the Creator? Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance. The nations need to return to God. There is only so much human intellect and a nation can do. After this t

I have always enjoyed my intimate times with my wife. Intimate times with my children are also what I treasure. It is great when we can talk about anything and allow the conversation to become so helpful for each other. Today, I did my reading of the Word with Shane and we both picked out this verse as jumping out at us. Psalms 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Yes, He will guide me. How? With His eye? How can that happen? By us looking at His eye. How can you look at God's eyes? By getting close to Him. You need to look real close. He will show you. He will guide you. Are you needing direction in your life? Look at God's eyes. Father, I am looking and watching. Guide me Lord.

Bad news and slander travels very quickly, and hard to forget. When a brand does badly in product or service quality, it will get hammered and become difficult to recover from. Perception is everything. Even if in reality there was nothing wrong. A few people with a bad report can bring down a multi billion dollar business. David faced this and cried out to God throughout this chapter. Psalms 31:13 For I hear the slander of many; Fear is on every side; While they take counsel together against me, They scheme to take away my life. What do you do? You are cornered. Everyone is concerned, but no one can help. You are at wits end trying to work a way out. Yes, it is simply evil what people have done. They are bringing down something good. God is ready to give you a way out. Psalms 31:19 Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men! His goodness will truly prev

I love my wife. She is an incredible lady. Only she could put up with the adventure we have been through the last almost 28 years. She was the woman of my youth. Though I am 30 pounds heavier and more than 30 years older since we first met, she is still very much by my side. I love you Darling. Happy Valentines day. However, God has a deeper love for me. Psalms 30:5 For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. Yes, we fail God many times. We do stupid things all the time under His watchful eyes. Yes, He sees it all. But the verse says, His favor is for life! It is like going to sleep. Before you know it God forgets everything and restores us to a position of joy. He loves us greatly. Though Valentines is a human concocted celebration, I wish God Super Happy Valentines! Father, I love you so much. You endured so much for me. You loved me enough to die for me.

As a Boy Scout I remember that one of the tests I did was on foot drill. Not only were you tested for how well you followed foot drill commands, you were also tested for how well you gave commands. I made my testees stand at one corner of the field and me another corner and they need to make sure their commands were well heard. You can imagine how well I developed my voice in the process. But there is someone with a stronger voice than mine. Psalms 29:4 The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. God spoke the universe into being. He used the spoken Word. He spoke life into every living creature except for man where He formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathe into him the breath of life. This is why we read in other parts of scripture about the power of the tongue and how we are to watch what we say. This Psalm demonstrates the power of God's voice and ends with this statement. Psalms 29:11 The Lord will give strength to His people;

Many times in life you take someone's word for it and trust that they mean good for you and/or the organization. But, in some instances, behind the whole thing could be a scheme to do bad. I once caught 2 people dealing corruptly with company funds. They had the best smiling faces but they had evil in their hearts. David had the same experience. Psalm 28:3, Do not take me away with the wicked And with the workers of iniquity, Who speak peace to their neighbors, But evil is in their hearts. I am thankful that God revealed this to me before it got bad. I remember giving a person, almost double my age, a firm warning about his improper purchases. He was obviously enriching himself but it happened before I had responsibility over him and I could not get the needed evidence. I like David have to pray this prayer. Psalms 28:9 Save Your people, And bless Your inheritance; Shepherd them also, And bear them up forever. Father, direct me to do right and lead well with you as our Shep

Are you feeling cornered? Sometimes we could be facing challenges and we feel there is no where to run. Our view of things become desperate. We feel like it is all coming to an end. David felt the same way. But, he seemed to have understood how to have informed confidence. Psalms 27:3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. David uses two keywords in this verse. Fear and confident. No fear! Truly, how can you have fear when the Creator of the universe is by your side. David goes on to amplify his close relationship with God. Psalms 27:5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. Can I have the same relationship with God? Sure you can. Be reconciled in your relationship with Him. He is listening. Call out to Him. He is a just, compassionate and merciful God. Psalms 27:14 Wait on the

Ever heard of "kopi money". Translated from my language it is "coffee money". It came from references to the small "fee" you paid to an individual to get a better service or an approval. It usually has something to do with a government process, but you may see this in other situations. The word used seems to imply a small amount of cash, but today the quantity and how it is given has grown in sophistication. It is nothing new and existed in ancient times. Psalms 26:10 In whose hands is a sinister scheme, And whose right hand is full of bribes. The Psalmist is implying it is common to see people offering a bribe. But, he knew it was wrong in God's economy. I like the description that precedes that. "sinister schemes". Much of this is driven by greed. Get rid of greed and this problem mostly goes away. We therefore need to be contented. Both giver and receiver of a bribe. And everyone needs to give a fair wage for work done. Don't be a

Many people have challenges doing the right thing. Whether it is eating right, spending time on the right things, responding to people, or many other things. We know it is right because our God given conscience says so. We need God's help. Psalmist has the same prayer. Psalms 25:5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. Reflecting on this verse, it says "on you I wait all the day". Wow! All day! I have done this in 2016 as part of a prayer retreat. It was beautiful. That waiting helped me make a crucial decision that caused me to move into a new season of my life. I need to do it more often. I don't spend much time listening and reflecting except in the early hours of the morning. I need longer periods and more times doing this. This is the right thing to do. Father, thank you for showing that I need to spend more quiet moments with You.

I am sure you have faced this question from yourself. What is going to happen to me after I die? Even many atheists get a little worried. Yes, they don't believe in God, but the "what if" question brews. For those who believe in God they are in this state of trepidation of whether they are good enough for heaven. This verse in chapter 24 is plenty clear who gets to heaven. Psalms 24:4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully. And this verse in Romans is also clear that no one can make it. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Jesus Christ is the only solution for a positive resolution of our state after death. He is our redeemer. For it states that all who call on His name shall be saved and enter heaven. Only His act on the cross and His resurrection can reconcile us to the Holy God. Father, thank you for your plan of salvation.

Globally there are many who hate the Jews and Israel. They point to the atrocities committed by Israel against the Palestinian people and do everything possible to ensure Israel pays for its crimes. But there was one person in history that saved many Jews and paid with his life. Corrie t en Boom 's father, Casper ten Boom , a Dutch watchmaker, went out of his way to help hide many Jews when Hitler was putting them into concentration camps and exterminating them. When I watched the movie, The Hiding Place , I saw how they read Psalm 23 . That stuck to my mind as an important Psalm to remind me that God is always with me and He will never leave me. This Psalm ends with this verse. Psalms 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. The promise of salvation for those that would trust in Him. Am I going to do right even when it means everyone else will ridicule me, or even put me to death? Yes I will!

It is simply amazing when you go through your day and some how it appears that what you are experiencing is familiar to you and has happened before. Could be an incident or a person that you are meeting for the first time. However, it appears to be something or someone that you are familiar with. Very likely you dreamed this before it happened. This verse in Psalms is not a dream. Psalms 22:1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning? You guessed it. Jesus cried out this very statement on the cross. But, the rest of the chapter shows how God delivers His people. He is ever present and no one can come against His people. The nations acknowledge Him and worship Him. He is not a mystical person or a figment of our imagination. Man may find excuses to ignore Him but He is who He is, and nothing can change that fact. He is not just a dream. Psalms 22:28 For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations.

Happy Chinese New Year! I am so happy I could take my darling wife out to some special places to celebrate this year. God  created the best itinerary we could have. Part of the deal is that we had some great food. What do you expect from a couple of Malaysians down right to the core. I love this verse from the chapter I read today. Psalms 21:6 For You have made him most blessed forever; You have made him exceedingly glad with Your presence. In the midst of this celebration, we knew God orchestrated everything. David is talking about how God has blessed his kingship. The verse also talks about God's presence that made him exceedingly glad. I was blessed by Lee Yen's presence the whole time, with Shane in tow most of the time. But, better than that, it was having God ever present. Father, we know You are always present with us. That gives us great joy. Thank you Lord.

Are you ready for the unexpected? You usually do everything possible to mitigate the situation, and sit waiting with anxious thoughts hoping for the best. Through the years of dealing with difficult situations I have learned to pray this prayer. Psalms 20:1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; We control very little of what happens around us. You can get very stressed thinking about it or you depend on the Lord to help you through it. I would strongly recommend the latter. Anything else shortchanges you. You are not welcoming God's interest in your personal life and well-being.  Remember to turn to your Creator. Psalms 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Father, I will trust in You and call out to you in times of trouble.

In physics we have learned various laws that govern matter. One of them is the law of gravity. And so, we have the common saying, what goes up must come down. There is another law that creates havoc for the people who believe in evolution. The law of entropy. All these give order to us, including the law of the Lord. Psalms 19:7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; There is order in creation, if broken, brings brokenness. We want to do our own things outside the law but it removes the protection God has for us. He has so much for mankind, but we like little children keep testing the boundaries. God's ways are higher than ours. The Psalmist ends this chapter by reminding me about God's desire for me. He wants to be my strength and redeemer. Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Father, I will rejoice

Have you ever started a journey where you were not sure when it will ever end? I have had many. For all of them I wish I was better prepared and, perhaps for some, knew what was coming so that I would never have started them. In the midst of all of them I am grateful that I had the same experience as King David. Psalms 18:2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I accepted Jesus Christ into my life and became a Christian at the age of 14. With my father's permission I got water baptized at the age of 17. These God events helped me greatly in my life journey. I can identify greatly with David's challenges and victories. I am so grateful to the Lord for being my rock, my fortress and deliverer. If you have time, I would suggest that you read the entire chapter that I read today. If you are going through life without Jesus, don't shortchange yourself any long

Praying is a wonderful act of communing with Creator God. It is so pleasant and enriching. It is not one way. You speak your mind and God speaks into yours; if you care to listen. Some have heard the audible voice of God. I sense His presence constantly. David was being chased by Saul and this chapter in Psalms is one of his intimate prayers to God. Psalms 17:8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings, He uses a term that is so beautiful and intimate. When we are very intense in our relationship with someone our eyes lock and you gaze deeply into their eyes. You pour your love into that gaze and the person is greatly cherished and loved. David is seeking for that great intimacy with God. In our busyness and need to get on with the affairs of life, we forget the most precious thing that we could be doing. I adore and look forward to starting my day with you Lord. Make me the apple of Your eye. Father, your face is whom I seek first thing in the morn