YAG II: Book of Deuteronomy – Joseph Lim
Remaining Steadfast in the Faith
The past year has been an absolute challenge, but also a tremendous blessing for me. This year saw many changes I had to adapt to and many additions I had to take on. One big thing was the lead up to my accreditation exams, also known as PPE, which I’ve been preparing towards for the past 4 years. That meant adding night classes, weekend tutorials, exam preparations. On top of that, there were also additional responsibilities both in and out of work. Earlier this year, there was also the search for a new job amidst an uncertain economy.
While it was difficult having to manage these challenges, many, if not most, of these had turned out to be wonderful blessings from the Lord. Fast forward to today, I am truly blessed – blessed to have passed my accreditation and will finally become a full-fledged architect by end of this year. I am blessed to have released my added responsibilities at my previous workplace because I found a new job. I am blessed because I was offered a job at a firm that I didn’t think I would even get a response from. These are just some of the many blessings that God has given so abundantly.
Seeing all this, it was very easy for me to rejoice. It was very easy for me to respond in praise, in worship and in thanksgiving. But I realised very quickly that it would not be as easy to remain steadfast and faithful. I must be honest to say that amidst experiencing all of these changes and blessings, I wasn’t always faithful. There were many times of weakness, stubbornness and faithlessness. So, to me the greatest blessing was God’s grace and compassion for when I was unfaithful, He remained faithful. When I doubted, He assured. When I was fearful, He comforted. The Lord continued to bless even when I was undeserving of it.
When we studied Deuteronomy 32 each week, Moses’s words of warning to Israel were very sobering. Israel was a nation that was greatly blessed. And they were about to enter into a greater blessing that was Canaan. Yet, they complained, they doubted, they even rebelled – that sounded like me sometimes. Each week at YAG II was therefore a very good warning and reminder to me: to appreciate the blessings given by God and not to allow them to become the very thing that would distract or remove me from Him. It was a stern word not to grow fat, not to kick and not to forsake God who is the Giver of all the blessings I’ve enjoyed the past year and before.
In reflection, I think the verse from Deuteronomy 32 that best sums up my thoughts is from verse 18, where Moses warned Israel:
“Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have forgotten the God who fathered you.”
God was the One who begot me and who fathered me through this difficult year. Also referring to verse 6, God was the One who bought me out of my sinfulness, established me at the workplace, and bestowed every blessing I’ve experienced this past year and before. I must therefore not be unmindful of Him and I must therefore not forget Him. My faith must also not waiver like Israel’s, but must remain steadfast in this new phase of life, and as I look forward to what else God has planned for me.