The FISHERS Magazine (Issue 193)

In recent years, Sunday evening has become the highlight of the week for me. On that day I get to spend time with my children and grandchildren over a meal specially prepared for them by me, followed by our family worship time. Nothing could be more blessed and satisfying to me on the Lord’s Day than to begin by worshipping the Lord with my spiritual family and to close it by a simple family worship with my loved ones in the natural family.

After dinner, we gather in the sitting room for our family worship. We begin by singing a few verses from one of the Psalms led by our son Linus, followed by a short exhortation from the Word of God by one of the heads of the three families, my husband, my son-in-law and my son. The three grandchildren Philip (8), Rebekah (5) and Euan (2) will eagerly take turns to recite a verse from the Bible they have learnt in Sunday School. Though all Euan can say is, “God made me!”, that is music to our ears! In order to encourage them I also regularly memorise a portion of the Scripture with them. We conclude the evening with a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord for His goodness and kindness to our family. I always remember this famous saying, “A family that prays together stays together.”

Sometimes I take the opportunity to ask the grandchildren what they had learnt in Sunday school in the morning and how they can apply the Word of God into their lives. We often get some surprises and even words of wisdom from the mouths of babes! I would like to share with you some of their simple answers and add a few words of exhortation of my own. What is an exhortation? “An ‘exhortation’ is an urging to the performance of duty and an incitation unto obedience to the Divine precepts.” (A.W. Pink)

1. Q: Why must you obey God’s commandment?
A: I must obey God’s commandment because He is my Creator.

“You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently.” (Ps 119:4) Since God is our Creator He has absolute authority and righteous claim over His creatures. He has clearly stated His will in His Word and it is our responsibility to pay attention to it and to treat it with utmost respect. It will do well for us to constantly remind ourselves that His Word recorded in the Scriptures is the manual for living a blessed life.

2. Q: Why do you want to obey God’s command?
A: When I obey God’s command He will bless me.

We all yearn for God to bless us with contentment and satisfaction in life but most people do not know where real blessedness is found and how to obtain it. The Bible has the answer, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!” (Ps 119:1,2) David found that real blessedness is the fruit of holiness which comes by walking in the Law of the Lord and not by possessing riches, honours and pleasures of this world. This is an attractive inducement for us to heed God’s commands not only in our outward conduct but also in our inward principle of life.

3. Q: Are you able to keep His commandment all the time?
A: No, I need His grace to direct me.

David also realised that due to his perverse nature he was not able to keep God’s commands perfectly; therefore he wailed, “Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!” (Ps 119:5). We might have the holy desires and aspirations to love God and to do His will all the days of our lives but in reality we often find that we lack the power to do our duties because of the sinful nature we have inherited from Adam. We are in desperate need of Divine grace to direct our path so that our steps will not falter on the way. This awareness of our inability often drives us to greater dependency on God’s help.

4. Q: What do you do when you do not understand what God says in the Bible?
A: When I do not understand God’s Word I will pray to Him for help.

God has reasons for setting a standard so high that we, by our own strength are not able to attain it.

First, He is God and He must keep up His righteousness.

Second, He wants to convince us of our impotence in reaching that standard and without His enabling grace we cannot perform our duties.

Third, He gives the creatures an opportunity to express their willingness to obey Him.

Fourth, He brings them to lie at His feet to ask for grace. That was what David did and that is what we need to do, “Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes.” (Ps 119:12). We must constantly come to God in prayer and ask Him to teach us His statutes through the letter of His Word and through listening to His Word being preached. We need the Holy Spirit to open our understanding and to empower us to discharge our duties. Listening to sermons being preached by God-fearing men is one of the means of grace God uses to open our spiritual understanding, therefore we must never take the preaching and hearing of God’s Word lightly.

5. Q: What is the best way to remember God’s word?
A: We must keep God’s word in our hearts by memorising it.

Memorising Bible verses is an excellent practice to fill our hearts with God’s Word. When our minds are saturated with His precepts, our mouths will be filled with gracious words. A person who fears the Lord will delight in meditating on His Word and in obeying it. Meditating on God’s Word is not for the purpose of storing the mind with curious notions and subtle ideas to win theological arguments but to turn it into practical use. David’s desire was to prayerfully ponder on God’s precepts and to apply it into his life, “I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.” (Ps 119:15). We are living in such a strenuous and bustling age that every minute of our time seems to be occupied with one thing or another and meditation has become a lost art, resulting in the obedience to God’s commands becoming a lost practice. No wonder so many Christians are living their lives as though they have never known God’s commandments and His requirements laid down in His Law. May the Word of God be fixed permanently in our memory, impressed deeply upon our hearts and applied diligently in every area of our lives.

6. Q: When you find God’s way too hard and you cannot follow it, what do you do?
A: I pray that He will help me to obey His will.

I may be aware of the benefits of walking in God’s way and delighting in His precepts but I am also painfully aware that my flesh is constantly trying to pull me in the opposite direction and I need God’s compelling grace to re-orientate my thoughts and bring me back to His path. Coming to faith is by the grace of God, yet so is living by faith. We need fresh supplies of grace each day to do His will so that we may know that the power to overcome the world belongs to Him alone. That thought will keep us humble and meek before the Almighty God. If rain were to be given just once and it would be sufficient for the rest of the year, there would have been no need of praying for such provision. If once a person comes to faith, he is given sufficient grace to last him for the rest of his earthly existence, wouldn’t he be merrily living a ‘prayerless’ life? Our God Most Wise constantly reminds us that without Him we can do nothing and so David prayed, “Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.” (Ps 119:35). Only God has the power to draw us back to the path of righteousness whenever we stray from Him.

7. Q: How can you become a more obedient child day by day?
A: I must determine to do God’s will with His help.

Praying for God’s help is important but we must also make diligent effort on our part to consciously follow His path. David said, “I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever; to the very end.” (Ps 119:112). Our prayers must be sincere and God will enable us to obey His Word. God has provided the means for us to know and to understand His commandments, we must use those means and make resolute determination to work out what God had worked in our hearts or else all our prayers will be in vain and they are but hypocrisies before Him.

May these words of exhortation be heeded not only by my grandchildren but by all of us too.

Dixie Chua
- Dixie is a deaconess of the ‘Fisherman of Christ’ Fellowship and an editor of Fishers.

Back to FISHERS 193's mainpage