Hostel room! Thank God! :D (and some thoughts on prayer)

Now in my hostel room for the first time in 4 years. Wow... God has been very faithful to me, and feel very encouraged by His answering my prayer for a room.

'Cos He know that I need a room to stay in so that I can focus on my honours year project work, and also because I want to bless the other brothers and sisters - perhaps open the room up for CG, use it as a 'storeroom' of sorts for items, etc.

Very encouraged by His answer too, 'cos this shows that prayer can literally open doors... just like what Jesus said, "Knock, and the door shall be opened to you." What I mean is that, at the beginning of this sem, the room that I'm in now was originally taken up by another brother, Andrew. Since he had graduated last sem, I figured out that since he wouldn't be using this room anymore. So I emailed the Ridgeview office to ask them for the room, but they said I have to go onto the waiting list.

So I waited, and waited... prayed and asked God whether I should go down and ask them in person, but no reply from Him. So I decided to go ahead and try asking anyway, but never got around to doing it (since I was quite tired of pestering the OSA people... and I think the guy at the counter was starting to remember my face...) ;) Heh! Think God also wanted to show mercy to the OSA people... LOL! ;D ok just kidding...

Then at the end of the month, when the results of the waiting list was announced in due time, I got an email telling me that I got the room. Wow, thank God, so thankful He heard my prayer and answered it.

The funny thing is, the room that I had originally asked for (room 807) was the room that I was allocated! So, in a small way, I think, from this experience, God wanted to give me this room in answer to my prayer, and my prayer in a way made a difference.

It's a mystery how prayer works - personally, I think one of the most surprising things ever in this universe is that a small jolt of some (half-dead) neurons firing and some sound waves from a mouth can actually transcend time and space to reach some supernatural Deity whom no eye can see or ear can hear.

Crazy, isn't it? To be honest, I have this tendency to attribute it to coincidence... but the strange thing is, to paraphrase a Christian bishop (I can't remember exactly who), "True, it may just be a coincidence, but the thing is, when I pray, these coincidences seem to happen much more often."

And what about those who are not Christians, but claim that their god/deity, and not the God of the Bible, has answered their prayers? And/or is it the God of the Bible who has answered their prayers? Or is this a contradiction? After all, you do hear of strange things that happen when non-Christians pray... ever watched "Touched by an Angel" and other such-themed shows?

Mmm, for this question, I'm not exactly sure how some prayers come true, but knowing the heart and nature of God, I know He is compassionate and gracious. Even though the person who prays may not be a religious person or even pray to a different god, I think He sees the heart and the need of the person who's praying to him... and He graciously chooses to answer that prayer, even though He knows very well that the credit for the answered prayer'll go to another god, and not to Him alone. Wow... what a humble God God is. Just as Jesus said, "He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." (Luke 6:35c)

And the Bible is replete with examples of non-believers who, even though they didn't know the God of the Bible, chose to put their faith in Him and pray to Him. And He answered their prayers in miraculous ways. E.g. the sailors who threw Jonah overboard, Naaman the Aramean, Cornelius the Roman centurion...

And even the Athenian Greeks acknowledged the possibility of an unknown God, which Paul highlighted to them in his presentation to the Areopagus. "For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you..." (Acts 17)

Wow... i think the really amazing thing is not that God answers prayer, but that He actually cares enough to answers our prayers in the first place! Because the fact is, nobody ever deserves to have his/her prayers heard... by right, we all deserve to be kicked out of His courts to the place where we rightly belong. Yet the King graciously chooses to hear our needs all the same...

Then how about the issue of suffering? Aren't the cries of the victims of oppression being heard? Why would a loving God allow suffering to go on, seemingly deaf to the cries of those who are suffering?

The issue of theodicy (the problem of evil) has been one question that has perplexed many. Mmm... I can't write more on this (no time or space), but such an important topic cannot be treated lightly or dismissively, for the suffering of the poor and oppressed is something that is very, very, very close to God's heart. There are many good books written about it - personally, I think one of the best books to read would be C.S. Lewis' "The Problem of Pain".

Personally, on the topic of pain, I've asked (more of ranted) to God why He'd let me be this and that... but the longer I walk with Him, the more He helps me understand why He let me be this and that. Over the years, somehow, I know more and more that He has been good to me, and even the bad and painful things that I have experienced in the past, He'll use it to His glory. Even now, I can see how, through these bad things, He has put a few people into my life who are currently struggling with what I've struggled before / am still struggling with. And frankly, the ironic thing is, as John Ortberg comments, "It is precisely here that we make one of the most surprising discoveries: Often it is the people closest to suffering who have the most powerful joy." From the squalid slums of Calcutta to the death-camp of Flossenburg, eye-witnesses have commented on the glowing gratitude and joy of the people who have suffered. How strange... yet, personally, I've seen this happen with my own eyes too.

They say that the best healer is a wounded healer, for only he can truly understand the pain and suffering of those whom he heals, for he himself has suffered as such.

Hmm... just some food for thought. Still, really thank God for His undeserved favour, that He's blessed me with this room... feel very touched and grateful to Him, 'cos I can use the room to bless other pple more too. And oh yeah, thank God for Tamar, a sister from the Youth service. Very blessed - and surprised - 'cos we had the opportunity to help one another - she helped clean my room (it was on her initiative) and even provided me with some stuff that I needed, and I helped her with some computer stuff.

Wow, God's timing is simply per-fect! :D Can't stop thanking Him for all that He's done - He is so so so good! :D