Over the weekend, I had to nurse a very severe sore throat. I saw it coming actually but did not do anything to prevent it from worsening. I am not known to be a great lover of spicy food, preferring to take them in moderation. My sore throat could have started by me taking a little bit of spicy food here and there (starting off with Mother's Day dinner celebration last Sunday), and adding chilli to my noodles, culminating the week with prata and chicken curry. On Friday evening, I bought herbal tea to drink and popped a panadol for my headache. When one has a very severe sore throat, sleeping becomes difficult as the throat tends to get very dry and swallowing becomes very painful. That was what happened to me on Friday night/Saturday morning where I barely got a good night's rest. I woke up to gurgle my throat with salt water. I managed to get some sleep after that.
On Saturday, I was debating whether to see a doctor as I did not feel feverish. I googled on home remedies for sore throat and discovered that regular gurgling with salt water does help. So I tried it with warm salt water and avoided food with chilli or hot spices. I felt much better on Sunday morning; the pain wasn't as intense as the day before. I continued with my salt water gurgle, suck lozenges, drank water and honey to hydrate and cool my throat. Now as I write this, my throat is 80% recovered - thank God for the 'anti-septic' nature of salt to bring about such healing. The morale of the whole story is that there is always a cause and effect to the nature of things that happen. The apostle Paul instructed his protege Timothy not to drink only water but to use a little wine for his frequent stomach ailments (1 Tim 5:23). The cause of Timothy's illness was probably due to contaminated water and Timothy, being a godly man, did not want to set a bad example for his parishioners by drinking wine. Hence the counsel by Paul to drink a little wine.
I was reading a health-related book that says toxic wastes build up in our body when we eat too many impure, processed foods and we don't give our body a chance to rest and get rid of them. Our body will naturally try to purify and cleanse itself, the way God has made it. Eating food the way God made it helps in flushing out all the poisons in our body system. Fruits and vegetables are eliminating and cleansing foods and are alkaline forming. Starches and proteins are body builders and are acid forming. We always want a more alkaline body, as too acidic a condition breeds disease. There must be a proper balance in the different categories of food intake. Poisons move out of the body when raw or properly cooked fruits and vegetables are eaten. I always try to have a healthy dosage of fruits and vegetables daily plus plenty of plain water. As we grow older, we have to cut down on our salt, sugar and carbo intake. And it does take a lot of discipline to keep our body in check. May God grant us the wisdom to make wise choices in our daily diet, both for ourselves and our loved ones.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Sing Shout Clap Your Hands
I spoke at the Saturday's service last week at BC. Here's an except of what I shared in relation to encountering God through worship based on Psalm 98.
Ps 95 – 98 is part of what is known as the royal psalms, celebrating God as King. Ps 98 is a celebration of God’s great love and redemption. It was probably written to celebrate the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity but also prophetically, the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ and its coming judgment.
Worship is an active response to God whereby we declare His worth. We come collectively in response to what He has done for us. The heart of worship is the worship of the heart; God is actively looking for worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:23). Not that God is lacking anything because He’s complete and sufficient. When we creatures come before the Creator in worship, we find ourselves in the centre of His desire.
Worship should not be passive but participative. Heart worship and body worship are not mutually exclusive; God has made us to be both spiritual and physical. Out of the abundance of the heart (all that is within me), our body responds to God’s initiatives in our live. The 3 stanzas (3 verses each) progressively extend the call to worship God from the congregants in the temple to the people of the earth and then to the whole of creation; from singing to shouting and clapping.
We are encouraged to sing to the Lord a new song – a song of praise that celebrates God’s deliverance or blessing; such a song that has not been sung before. When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen were drowned in the Red Sea , Miriam took a tambourine and sang this song:
“Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider he had hurled into the sea.”
Ex 15:21 (NIV)
We have in our day many songs of redemption and of the cross. New songs are also sung in heaven by the 4 living creatures and the 24 elders: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals…” (Rev 5:9) and by the redeemed of the Lord (Rev 14:3). Do you have a new song to sing to the Lord? The reason why we can sing praises to God is because of His love and faithfulness towards us (v 3). He is our righteous Saviour whose works of redemption rings across the ages.
The tempo of worship is raised a notch higher (emotions involved) when the psalmist enjoins the earth to shout for joy to the Lord. Shouting here goes with boastful adoration – jubilant song with music accompaniment of the harp, trumpet and horn. Shouting is associated with victory. The walls of Jericho
The second coming of Jesus Christ would be preceded by a trumpet blast and a mighty shout. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Th 4:16).
The reason why we can shout with jubilation is because the LORD is our King – He is to be crowned King of kings.
Finally, the psalmist enjoins all of creation – those in the sea and on the earth, animate and inanimate objects to clap and sing for joy before the Lord. Hands are unique creation of God; they can perform complicated surgical operations and play beautiful music on instruments. Yet they are instruments by themselves to give praise to God. Clapping of hands is often an expression of support and gratitude. It typically accompanies singing and makes a beautiful melody when the congregation is clapping together. Clapping cheers the spirits and gets everybody involved so that they feel free to move and take part in praising God.
The reason why we can sing, shout and clap our hands is because God is our righteous Judge who would be coming back very soon to judge the earth with equity. So what are you waiting for? Begin to praise and worship God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Mk 12:30).
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