My dear readers,

Answering Remaining Questions from Calvary Pandan Church Camp 2024 (1)

Question 1: We are told not to murmur and complain when faced with troubles. If we are bullied/picked on, should we still complain to someone who can help us, or do we suffer in silence?

Answer 1: The context of not murmuring and complaining is of sinful and careless speech. To murmur or complain in times of suffering for Christ is to focus on the secondary cause (i.e. the persecutor or sickness) and failing to see the first cause, i.e. God almighty, the believer’s heavenly Father. God’s sovereignty in every believer’s life is the foundation of every response to trials. To murmur and complain in trials is to sin against God, not man.

Before any trial can afflict any of God’s children, God carefully weighs and designs the trial in heaven. Once our heavenly Father weighs them and ensures they are all according to the teachings and promises of Holy Scriptures on trials permitted in every believer’s life, these trials will touch God’s children’s lives. These trials will strengthen and deepen their faith if they endure and persevere through them without sinning. If they succumb, it will be their fault alone for not trusting the Lord and exercising their faith. They cannot blame God but only themselves, and also not the secondary cause. They need to repent and seek forgiveness from God in Christ. All believers will experience failures and successes when struggling against trials for Christ’s sake. Below are two commonly known passages of the Scriptures that prepare believers for trials in life.

1 Corinthians 10:13: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

Philippians 1:27-30: “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28 And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. 29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; 30 Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”

Seeking the right people or authorities to help overcome bullying is not against the teaching of the Bible, like seeking a doctor when sick instead of complaining. Prayer must be there from the beginning to the end of the trial, even as help is sought. Ultimately, the believer needs to know that the Lord helped him through the secondary sources he sought help from, just like it is not the medicine that heals, but the Lord who uses the medicine to bring healing.

There may be instances when the believer will experience no help from anyone or any quarter. He needs to suffer with silent prayer, not in silence. He can always turn to his Heavenly Father, whose ears are always inclined to hear the cries of all His beloved children at every moment of the day, day and night.

Question 2: Are all who make trouble for us considered “troublemakers” in Morning Message 6 taken from Psalm 10?

Answer 2: The message title from Psalm 10 is “Dealing with Troublemakers.” The context of Psalm 10 is the psalmist’s innocence, and his oppressors were definitely wrong according to the Holy Scriptures. It is not always true that “all who make trouble for us” are to be considered as troublemakers. Sometimes, the believer may be wrong and may refuse to admit it or is ignorant of it. God will send someone to rebuke him, and “trouble” in his life will begin when his sin is exposed, just as God sent Nathan the prophet to rebuke King David, who covered up his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Bathsheba’s husband. His trouble began after Nathan’s confrontation. If a Christian has sinned and stubbornly justifies his sin to the point of misusing Scripture, his trouble is his own making. The brethren who oppose him are not troublemakers but God’s servants like the disciples of Christ who refused to keep quiet when the Sanhedrin Jewish leaders commanded them to not preach about Christ and His resurrection. Those who stay silent and take the side of wrong for the relationship’s sake are enemies of the one who refuses to repent. They do not want to bring “trouble” to their friend or relatives so they keep silent even when the wrong is presented. Take heed to the warning in Proverbs 27:6: “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”

In the case of Psalm 10, the oppressors were wrong and hindered the work and will of God from being fulfilled in the life of God's servant. Wrongdoers are definitely troublemakers. The basis for evaluating them is the Bible and not friendships and relationships. For example, parents may take their children's side even when their children are wrong. They may consider all who are against their children as troublemakers even when their children have committed a sin, believed or taught a wrong doctrine and stubbornly refuse to repent.

Question 3: 1 Samuel 12:22 says, "For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people." However, 1 Samuel 4:21 says, "And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband." Please explain the difference and irony between these two verses.

Answer 3: “Ichabod, the LORD has departed” in 1 Samuel 4 was a literal exclamation from the wife of Phinehas, the son of Eli the high priest. Eli and his two sons, who were supposed to succeed him as the next high priest, died in one day. The Ark of the Covenant, with the mercy seat covering it, was taken by the Philistines for the first time in Israel’s history since the days of the conquest by Joshua and Moses. The Ark of the Covenant inside the Most Holy Place within the Tabernacle represented the presence of the LORD in Israel and His accompanying protection and favour. The departure of it implied the opposite, i.e. the departure of the LORD and His blessings. The capture of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines was due to the evil of Eli’s sons and Eli’s failure as High Priest when he failed to punish his sons for the wickedness they committed against God in abusing their holy ministry of the Levitical priesthood.

1 Samuel 12 has a different context. The sin of Israel was replacing theocracy with the monarchy. Their motive was to have a human king to rule them like the Gentile kings. Israel repented of their sinful motive. God forgave them, but they could no longer turn back the clock and have God as king, i.e. a theocratic rule. The monarchy rule would remain. Samuel testified to them that they could still be blessed of God as a monarchy in 1 Samuel 12:20-25: “And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart; 21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. 22 For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people. 23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: 24 Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. 25 But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.”