"하나님 아버지"

하나님 제겐 참 두려운 게 많습니다
잘 모르는 것도 너무 많습니다
부끄러운 일은 헤아릴 수도 없고
지치고 힘든 때에도 그 때도
의연한 척 해야 할 때도 있습니다

그래도 하나님 아버지
하나님을 아버지라 부를 수 있어서
난 참 좋습니다

matthew 15:21-28

the story of the canaanite woman 

who asks Jesus for the cure of her possessed daughter.

when Jesus signs a cold shoulder with 

"I was sent to the lost sheep of Israel"

and

"it is not right to take the children's and toss it to the dogs",

the woman, 

with humble wisdom and faith,

replies

"even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."

she had the humble faith of

knowing that we do not deserve anything

and grateful that despite that,

God will give us everything that is good for us. 

Psalm 34:17-20

the righteous cry out,

and the Lord hears them;

He delivers them from all their troubles.


the Lord is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirt.


the righteous person may have troubles,

but the Lord delivers him from them all;


He protects all his bones,

not one of them will be broken.

matthew 25:14-28

read the parable of the talents of gold for qt.

I've read it before, 

about how God gave everyone a specific "talent of gold,"

but the commentary for the passage emphasized how,

just like the parable,

our talents of gold are always, and always will be, of God's,

and we are merely "entrusted" with them, not just given to us. 

so simple and obvious an observation--

I don't know how I didn't pick it up before.

it makes more sense why I should use any abilities that I have for Him. 

john 8:3-11

the teachers of the law and the pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.

they made her stand before the group and said to Jesus,


"teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.

in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women.

now what do you say?"


but Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with His finger.

when they kept on questioning Him,

He straightened up and said to them,


"let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."


again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.


at this, those who heard began to go away one at a time,

the older ones first,

until only Jesus was left,

with the woman still standing there.

Jesus straightened up and asked her,


"woman, where are they? has no one condemned you?"


"no one, sir," she said.


"then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared.


"go now and leave your life of sin."



no matter what we've done in the past,

even if it was the most horrifying thing,

something we ourselves feel like we deserve death,

He tells us that we are not condemned for it,

as long as we turn away from it today.

this isn't just some "patching up" job He's doing,

it's restoring us like new.

psalm 147

praise the Lord.

how good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise Him!

the Lord builds up Jerusalem;
He gathers the exiles of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.

great is out Lord and mighty in power;
His understanding has no limit.

the Lord sustains the humber
but casts the wicked to the ground.

sing to the Lord with grateful praise;
make music to our God on the harp.

He covers the sky with clouds;
He supplies the earth with rain
and makes grass grow on the hills.

He provides food for the cattle
and for the young ravens when they call.

His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor His delight in the legs of the warrior;

the Lord delights in those who fear Him,
who put their hope in His unfailing love.

extol the Lord, Jerusalem;
praise your God, Zion.

He strengthens the vars of your gates
and blesses your people within you.

He grants peace to your borders
and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.

He sends His command to the earth;
His word runs swiftly.

He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.

He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
who can withstand his icy blast?

He sends His word and melts them;
He stirs up His breezes, and the waters flow.

He has revealed His word to Jacob,
His laws and decrees to Israel.

He has done this for no other nation;
they do not know His laws.

praise the Lord.



praising the Lord not just for the outcomes of your personal life,

but for everything that He is.

proverbs 16:1-9

morning service passage:

to humans belong the plans of the heart,
but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.

all a person's ways seem pure to them,
but motives are weighed by the Lord.

commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and He will establish your plans.

the Lord works out everything to its proper end--
even the wicked for a day of disaster.

the Lord detests all the proud of heart.
be sure of this: they will not go unpunished.

through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
through the dear of the Lord evil is avoided.

when the Lord takes pleasure in anyone's way,
he causes their enemies to make peace with them.

better a little with righteousness
than much gain with injustice.

in their hearts plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.

the qualities (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

love is patient,

love is kind.

it does not envy,

it does not boast,

it is not proud.

it does not dishonor others,

it is not self-seeking,

it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

love does not delight in evil

but rejoices in the truth.

it always protects,

always trusts,

always hopes,

always perseveres.

love never fails.

just got reminded of this verse.

thank You Father, 

always remind me this as I live.

morning service

1 Chronicles 24:1-19.

passage was a family tree passage.

message was of how David,

after having been told by God that he will not build the temple himself,

still did all he can by getting everything ready for the building of the temple,

in this case the division of roles of the Levites.

David still put all of his trust in the Lord,

shown by the casting of lots for the division of roles.


the point of the message was that following God's will,

doing His work,

involves all our effort,

then putting all our dependence on Him.

Psalm 20

morning service message, relevant with what I have been reading in Deuteronomy:

May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;
    may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

May he send you help from the sanctuary
    and grant you support from Zion.

May he remember all your sacrifices
    and accept your burnt offerings.

May he give you the desire of your heart
    and make all your plans succeed.

May we shout for joy over your victory
    and lift up our banners in the name of our God.

May the Lord grant all your requests.

Now this I know:
    The Lord gives victory to his anointed.

He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary
    with the victorious power of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

They are brought to their knees and fall,
    but we rise up and stand firm.

Lord, give victory to the king!
    Answer us when we call!

on crossing the jordan

"You have seen with your own eyes all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings.
The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going.
Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God himself will fight for you." (Deut. 3:21b-22)

in every uncertainty that we cross over to,

our Father fights for us.

psalm 59

today's morning service message:

1 Deliver me from my enemies, O God;
   be my fortress against those who are attacking me.
2 Deliver me from evildoers
   and save me from those who are after my blood.

 3 See how they lie in wait for me!
   Fierce men conspire against me
   for no offense or sin of mine, LORD.
4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me.
   Arise to help me; look on my plight!
5 You, LORD God Almighty,
   you who are the God of Israel,
rouse yourself to punish all the nations;
   show no mercy to wicked traitors.[c]

 6 They return at evening,
   snarling like dogs,
   and prowl about the city.
7 See what they spew from their mouths—
   the words from their lips are sharp as swords,
   and they think, “Who can hear us?”
8 But you laugh at them, LORD;
   you scoff at all those nations.

 9 You are my strength, I watch for you;
   you, God, are my fortress,
 10 my God on whom I can rely.

   God will go before me
   and will let me gloat over those who slander me.
11 But do not kill them, Lord our shield,[d]
   or my people will forget.
In your might uproot them
   and bring them down.
12 For the sins of their mouths,
   for the words of their lips,
   let them be caught in their pride.
For the curses and lies they utter,
 13 consume them in your wrath,
   consume them till they are no more.
Then it will be known to the ends of the earth
   that God rules over Jacob.

 14 They return at evening,
   snarling like dogs,
   and prowl about the city.
15 They wander about for food
   and howl if not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of your strength,
   in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
   my refuge in times of trouble.

 17 You are my strength, I sing praise to you;
   you, God, are my fortress,
   my God on whom I can rely.

the rich man (matthew 19:16-30)

although this wasn't the main passage for today's service,

the message did shed some more light into this story. 

I had always imagined the rich man to be this prideful man,

who, when replying to Jesus that he had obeyed all the commandments,

was being a spoiled brat that did not know what he was talking about.

but the message today depicted the rich man to be someone who was sincerely touched by Jesus' message, 

who has lived a good life ("kept" all the commandments) until now

but realizes that he is missing something ("What do I still lack?").

the fact the he realizes this and approaches Jesus to find out what he is missing

shows how sincere he was about eternal life.

and what he was missing was having Jesus as his life's top priority.

for him, it was his money.

when Jesus said that he should give all his possessions away and follow Him,

he wasn't furious about how ridiculous such a request is,

or ask if there could be anything else,

or even try to compromise. 

he was "very sad."

he knew that was the answer--

not just the action of giving everything away,

but that he had to have the feeling of willingness when thinking of that idea,

which only comes from putting Jesus above all. 

when we put something above our Father, 

we can only feel that something is "missing" despite having received salvation.

because the thing that we put above Him takes a priority, 

our feelings are controlled by that and not God. 

if it is money, not having all the money you want will make you feel that feeling of missing something,

if it is grades, not having that perfect (at least sought for) score,

if it is looks, not having the pretty face or the fit body,

or if it is love, not feeling loved by the other.

in this case,

anything other than God will give us that missing feeling. 

only when we put Him in the top do we feel whole,

happy no matter the situation with the sure of His love. 

john 12:27,28a

"Now my heart is troubled,

and what shall I say?

'Father, save me from this hour'?

No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

Father, glorify your name!"



I should never forget,

that Jesus had the hardest decision to make for our Father.


and it resulted in the greatest exchange.

awake (numbers 17)

morning service talked about how the budding of Aaron's staff was God's sure sign that Aaron was indeed appointed by God as a leader,

that thinking that the budding of the staff, a dead piece of wood, was pure coincide,

that it was meant to be,

is rubbish.

the message then told us to be awake to God and the things He does for us,

so that we may not just brush it off or take it for granted.

Jesus wept (john 11)

been reading John 11.

it's the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

while reading it, there was nothing really surprising about it.

it seemed like another amazing miracle performed by Jesus.


this passage is also home of one of the shortest verses in the Bible.

John 11:35: "Jesus wept."

while just amusing myself with the thought about this being a really short verse,

I suddenly thought,

"why is Jesus weeping for a man He already knows He will bring back from the dead?"

wouldn't it make sense for Him to just tell Maria and Martha

"don't worry, there's nothing to be sad about"?


and then I realized,

although Jesus will indeed bring Lazarus back from the dead and therefore make everyone happy again,

Jesus did not look over the pain Lazarus must have went through before death,

and the agony the sisters had already been through the past days.

He cried,

because He cared. 



believing in Jesus and knowing that He will definitely give us the solution does not mean that we will always be happy throughout the trials and hardships.

we will be in pain,

we will face times when we think everything is over,

and Jesus knows that.

there's no need to try to force a smile.

we can cry,

and He will cry with us.

but in the end, He will raise us up.

standing up because you can see (john 9)

been reading John 9 for the past couple of days--

it is the account of Jesus healing the blind man.

once Jesus heals the blind man, the Pharisees try to discredit Jesus' association with God once again by accusing Him of doing this on the Sabbath.

the Pharisees then find the blind man's parents and demand an explanation.

the parents, fearing excommunication from their society, refuses to give a definite answer and consequently turns their back to their child.

the blind man, however, while probably knowing as much as his parents what excommunication meant, does not hesitate to state the truth and professes that a man with sin will not be able to do what He has done for him.

extra props to his troll question of "you guys want to be His disciples too?"

he is therefore kicked out, excommunicated.

Jesus hears this and comes back, asking the man if he believes in the Son of Man.
the blind man asks who that may be and believes right away when Jesus tells him that it is Himself.

the kicker here is that this means that the blind man stood up for Jesus without even having known that He was God. He just knew He was a good guy.

this means that he stood up just for who he considered a good guy, a friend.

of course, I can't deviate from the main point of spiritual sight and blindness and how brilliant Jesus is to relate this topic with physical sight, but the standing up part was also very.. memorable.

being excommunicated is a pretty horrible thing at that time. with no internet or newspapers and other forms of media, the synagogue was the main hub of news, entertainment, and social mingling (and of course, spiritual guidance). the had-been blind man sacrificed that when he decided to stand up for what he believed in.

this tells us that we should definitely stand up for Jesus, and also for those we believe in, despite the losses it might bring you.

and the reason points back to love, the kind of love that you acquire from loving God.

leviticus 15:1-15

today's morning service was on Leviticus 15:1-15.

the message was that just like how God commanded the Israelites to stay away from those who are unclean or risk becoming unclean themselves, we must separate ourselves from the secular world or risk falling into sin.

the message ended in a hopeful note, saying that this passage ends with God explaining how the unclean can cleanse themselves, saying that we also are given the opportunity to cleanse ourselves from the sin we fall into--through the blood of Jesus.


these kinds of messages always make me think.

Jesus was known to have spent most of his time with sinners, the world. when Jesus broke bread with tax collectors, who knows, they could have been in what could be that era's equivalent of a bar/pub. He definitely will not have drunk too much wine, but the people around him surely would have.

but then again, Jesus was perfect. nothing would have influenced Him to fall into the environment He was in.

as sin-prone Christians, we need to interact with the world enough to change it but not enough to be the one changed...



as a side, related to Jesus spending time with sinners, when the Pharisees voiced out about Jesus spending time with sinners, Jesus said that He has come to this world for those who are sick (Mark 2:17). every time I remember this passage, it touches something inside me. don't really know what, but something.