The God We Seek – Dr Leong Tien Fock – Malaysia’s Christian News Website

3 Dec 2013 by Jason Law CM –

The Full Gospel Assembly (FGA) KL is well-known for its commitment to live lives in recognition of a gracious and holy God. Today, the church has grown to encompass a huge area of the Klang Valley, with many satellite churches all over Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. Taking its goal this year from Acts 2.42-47, expressively worded as ‘Making a Difference Together.. Transforming Lives’ the Word given in last Sunday’s service tackled one of the central issues for Christians; the role of calamities in God’s sovereign plan.

Before the message was given, the church was given a teaser for this upcoming Friday’s ‘History of Gospel Music’ concert, by The Gospel People. The concert offers to be an interactive showcase of the history of gospel music, from its origins in the Sub-Saharan Africa to North America's colonialisation, reaching up to the present. The Gospel People performed three songs, all of them very dynamic, lively, and vibrant.

The message was given by Dr Leong Tien Fock who is the Research Coordinator of Malaysia Campus Crusade for Christ. His research focuses on applying the Old Testament to how we think and live. He is also an adjunct faculty of the East Asia School of Theology in Singapore.

Titled ‘The God We Seek’, the message was based on the text of Jeremiah 29:4-14. Dr Leong said that Jeremiah 29:11 in particular is one of the favourite verses in the entire Bible for many Christians, with a great and comforting sense of promise about it. But this verse raises a question; why did God need to spell it out for us? Don’t we as Christians know that God always has the best interest of His people at heart?

Dr Leong explained that the verse took place within the context of a crisis. Ever since the Kingdom of Israel was split into two after the death of Solomon, crisis after crisis happened to the people of God. In 722BC, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, was defeated by the Assyrians. 130 years later, the Babylonians came and totally decimated the whole kingdom of the Jews, first by defeating Assyria, and expropriating Israel, then later, by defeating Judah, and sending the people of Judah into exile. Jerusalem was very soon after that destroyed. God seemed to be planning for calamity for His people, but this was in fact, a process.

The call for repentance and to seek for God has a special meaning, as found in 1 Samuel 7:3, where Samuel called for the people of Israel to put away idol worshipping. This connotes that as God’s people, we are to seek God and God only. The Israelites had been committing this sin since the time in Canaan. Dr Leong explained, however, that lest we should judge the Israelites, we should understand how easily the Israelites fell into such a situation.

The Israelites were delivered from Egypt into the Promised Land, Canaan, but there was a context to this. God brought about a situation where the people of Israel had to depend totally on God, abstaining from idolatry, as found in Deuteronomy 4. Egypt was an advanced kingdom, with grand infrastructure, among which was a great system of irrigation for land and crops. In the hilly land of Canaan, there was an existing system of belief. The original inhabitants there did not have irrigation. They prayed to Baal in the hopes of a timely rain for their harvest. That was the hope of the original Canaanites. Without existing irrigation, the Israelites were supposed to depend on God alone. We can understand how easily the Israelites placed their hopes in the false God if we transpose this to modern day, and to Christians inordinately placing their hopes in the system of the world and financial success.

Dr Leong explained that there’s a difference between placing our hopes in human means, and using them. He gave the example of Abraham. When God promised that Sarah and Abraham were to have a child in their old age, this seemed an impossibility, and in fact, Sarah laughed at the ‘absurdity’ of it. The fact that Isaac was conceived spoke about the faith that Abraham and Sarah finally placed in God, but Isaac did not come out of thin air. There was a normal process of procreation. The growth of the level of faith that Abraham had with God was testified by his willing sacrifice of Isaac. This required a huge amount of trust in God’s will. Abraham used human means to conceive Isaac, but he did not place his trust in human things, but rather in God alone.

The things of the world will eventually fail us. They’re built on insecure foundations, and many of them will eventually fail us. People will disappoint us, and material possessions never last. If we place our trust in such things of the world, the God we worship is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible does not require a back-up plan. He is the God that created the whole universe. He has yet to fail and will never fail. In order to grow and be successful in the Lord, we need to place our trust in such a God. If it is God’s will, follow, with the same trust that Abraham showed.

Tissot_The_Flight_of_the_Prisoners — The Israelite Exile

Dr Leong, however, pointed out that there is a vicious cycle in human nature. To trust in God alone, He must be real in our lives. But for God to be real to us, we must trust in Him alone. This creates a vicious cycle, but Dr Leong encouraged us that this cycle can be turned into a virtuous one. Often times, in order to break out of this cycle, situations where we cannot trust in the things of the world but only in God must come about. Crisis brings about this situation, and this is where the process comes in. Tamara Eskenazi puts the exile of the Jews in this context:

"Exile. It is not simply being homeless. Rather, it is knowing that you do have a home, but that your home has been taken over by enemies.
Exile. It is not being without roots. On the contrary, it is having roots which have now been plucked up, and there you are, with roots dangling, writhing in pain, exposed to a cold and jeering world, longing to be restored to your native and nurturing soil. Exile is knowing precisely where you belong, but knowing that you can't go back, not yet."

There is a refrain in Psalm 137 that speaks poignantly about the pain of exile. It is in such a situation that people often repent and turn to God.

Such a situation, however, brings dilemma to many people, and sometimes, it is the reason why many people find Christianity senseless or illogical. How does Scripture present God? Scripture does not hide things. It is clearly written in the Bible that God brings or allows calamities to fulfill His greater plans for His people. Joseph had to go through trials after trials, first from his own brothers, then from his boss’ wife, before he rose to his intended position as vizier. God moulded him for his intended role.

This is especially so when people sin against God. God destroyed the world and started all over again, during the time of Noah, because the world was in such a wicked and fallen state. Many times, however, God shows his compassion by delivering his people once repentance comes in. In the context of the Egyptian slavery, the Israelites had to go through hardship before Moses was sent by God to deliver them. In the case of the Babylonian exile, when the Israelites finally repented, God miraculously turned the heart of a pagan king, Cyrus, who accomplished God’s deliverance for His people. Often we find calamities have a place in the fulfillment of Scripture.

The question is, do we accept this God? The cards are laid on the table. There’s no hiding. God is gracious and respects us enough to be upfront with us. Either we depend on the fallen world of men, along with its myriad man-made problems, or we turn to God with all our hearts, understanding His purpose, and trusting that God’s will, plan, and allowance for calamities are always meant for our welfare. When we find God real, we see calamities in a different perspective.

Dr Leong ended his message by summing up its final thoughts. God does need a back-up plan, and He has a purpose in calamities. A.W. Tozer put it this way: “What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us”.