Becoming good or bad

I was reading the stories of the kings in the divided kingdom of Israel recently.  After the death of King Solomon, Israel was divided into the northern kingdom (known as Israel), comprising of 10 tribes, ruled by Jeroboam and the southern kingdom (known as Judah), comprisinng of Judah and Benjamin, ruled by Rehoboam.  All the kings in the northern kingdom were bad, meaning they did not seek after God but followed pagan gods.  Of the 20 kings in the southern kingdom, only 8 were considered good kings, meaning they sought after God.  But even then, not all of these 8 kings persevered in following God till the end.  In my readings, two kings, in particular, stood out.  One was King Asa, the third king of Judah and the other was King Manasseh, the fourteenth king of Judah. 


Asa was considered a good king.  The Bible mentioned that he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father (1 Kg 15:11).  He started his reign well by removing idolatries as well as his mother because she had made a horrid image of the goddess Asherah (1 Kg 15:13).  He instituted reforms in Judah and made a covenant to seek God with all their heart and soul (2 Chron 15:12-13).  Asa depended on God in his battle against the Ethiopians who came with an army of one million and God routed this mighty army, defeating them sorely (2 Chron 14:9-13).  In his latter years, Asa became proud and forgot about the Lord.  He started to rely on the arm of flesh. In particular, he bought the favour of the king of Aram to fight against Israel.  God sent Hanani the seer to chastise Asa but he imprisoned the prophet.  The final commentary on Asa was this: "In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians." (2 Chron 16:12).


Manasseh, in constrast, started off as a very wicked king.  The Bible tells us that he did evil in the sight of the Lord leading the nation to a downward spiral towards destruction (2 Chron 33:2).  He reversed all the reforms his father Hezekiah had instituted - rebuilding the high places for pagan worship and setting up pagan altars in the house of God.  He practised all manner of witchcraft and soceries, provoking the Lord to anger (2 Chron 33:3-7).  Because of the abominations he has committed, the Lord brought the king of Assyria to capture Manasseh with hooks and chains, bound to Babylon.  In his distress, Manasseh humbled himself greatly and called upon the Lord.  You know what, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and restored him to his kingdom - isn't that amazing! He began to recognise that the LORD was God and started to remove the idols and pagan altars in the house of the Lord (2 Chron 33:11-16).

Who would you rather be?  King Asa or King Manasseh?  The former started well but ended badly.  The latter started on a wrong footing but ended up well.  The key to becoming good or bad is our attitude - whether we are willing to humble ourselves when chastised by the Lord or we allow pride to rear its ugly head in our souls.  May we all have the tender-heart of Asa when he sought God in his younger days and the humility of Manasseh to repent of our wickedness when we are confronted with our sins.   Let's purpose in our hearts to seek and follow God to the very end. 

Connectivity

In just over three weeks recently, family members were travelling separately outside Singapore, myself included.  My wife was the first to travel to Thailand with some oikos members (for shopping).  It was followed by me, accompanying students to Suzhou, China on an immersion trip and then my elder daughter to New York for a research-cum-exchange programme with her school peers.  Travelling has never been made more convenient with the advent of modern air transportation.  My younger daughter would also be travelling in the later half of the year, possibly to Denmark, yet on another school programme. 

When I was a student, there was hardly any overseas learning journey, except maybe to Pulau Ubin for Outward Bound.  Children nowadays are very fortunate with subsidies provided by MOE to encourage cross-cultural learning and exchanges.  There is nothing like learning first hand what takes place in a certain country rather than reading them from books or over the net.  For learning to be rich and beneficial, it entails a lot of planning by educators concerned.  Paramount, of course, is the safety and security of all who goes on such trips. 

During the time of the early apostles, travelling to distant places was done through sailing on ships.  It may take days or weeks to reach a certain place, depending on the weather.  Shipwrecks were not uncommon in those days.  The apostle Paul mentioned that he suffered shipwreck three times (2 Cor 11:25).  What a way to travel!  But that was the price he had to pay to bring the gospel to distant lands in obedience to God's call.  Missonary work nowadays is less costly to personal lives where travelling is concerned.  My wife just returned from preaching at a church in Tg Balai, all within the span of a day. 

The Bible alludes to this modern day connectivity in Daniel 12:4, "... many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase."  What is common to birds and angels, is now common to mankind - flight - when the law of aerodynamics was discovered.  Air travel has certainly spawn trade and tourism, with governments building bigger airports to cater for its growing demand.   Connectivity has made the world more cosmopolitan, with people from different nationalities residing in most major cities.  What this means is that cultural practices are also being transplanted across the globe.  The gospel has to address both growing religious entities as well as secularism at the same time. 

Beyond the physical connectivity, as believers in the Lord, we should relish in our spiritual connectivity with the Father.  Prayer is the means to such connection and it goes beyond geographical boundaries.  Daniel's prayer despatches the angel Gabriel (Dan 9:20-23) and the archangel Michael (Dan 10:12-13) into action.  It is through prayers that we will see the people turning Godwards.  We need to do the needful in presenting the gospel but the Holy Spirit does the converting.  We must continue to affirm that salvation belongs to God (Rev 19:2) and that He alone can cause the coldest hearts to find His love and everlasting peace.