Coming back from Luke 10, it was so great to see the rest of the team again, but still I found myself alone in the corner, many times. Just reflecting on everything that happened and trying to make sense of it all. What am I saying? How can I ever try to figure God out??& nbsp; I don’t need to understand His will to do it!
The first week in Cambodia, we met up with Alta, a missionary from South Africa that has been here for 15 years. She took us through Veritas module 2, than focuses on the Old Testament and specifically the Pentateuch (first 5 books of the Bible). Oh man, I don’t know anything! Feels like God is really taking me back to the basics and teaching me everything from the start.
After reading Deuteronomy 28 (in our teams we had to work through a whole book in one night, sum it up and present it to the rest of South Bound), I understood a little bit better why the world is as it is. It’s very clear that obedience = blessings, but disobedience = curse. The world now is way worse than Israel was! Still, God continues to pursue us. Very shortly summed up, this is His desire for us:
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- Exodus 19:5-6 – To be a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
- Leviticus 11:45 – Be holy for I am Holy.
- Numbers 11:29 – Moses wishes that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that God would put His spirit on them.
- Deut 30:19-20 “I set before you life and death: Choose life so that you and your children may live…”
We are weirdo’s – people’s heads turn then they see us. We’re not worthy of anything. Yet when we call for God: “Dad!” He proudly puts up His hand and says: “Here I am.” He loves us – unconditionally.
Sin is whatever God says it is. It doesn’t need explanation or justification. Obedience is the evidence of a willingness to do something we don’t want to do, for reasons we don’t understand, simply because God says so.
The rest of our time was spent in the community. During the genocide under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge from 1975-1979, millions of Cambodians were brutally murdered, specifically the educated people. Even if you wore glasses, you were killed, because that means you can read, so you must be educated. I know, this doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t sound real. And that’s what they hold on to, specifically for tourism in Phnom Penh. The Tuol Sleng Genoside Museum and Killing fields.
Because of this, the country is very under developed. We helped to build houses, visited under-developed communities and community development programs, shared testimonies at cell groups, preached in local churches, and spent a lot of time with the kids! They are so cute! Despite the hurt that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge left in the late 70’s, there are smiles on their faces and a playfulness in their touch.
The biggest realization I had over and over again, through doing Veritas on the Old Testament and simply by spending time in the Word, is the magnitude of our sin and how strongly God feels about it. He is so holy and He can’t allow sin close to Him. Still He longs to have a relationship with us, because that’s why He created us. He created us to be new creations in Christ. And He asks of us to be obedient, to put off our sinful nature and choose to live by God’s Spirit.
Confessions of sin without repentance is pointless. I need to REPENT – TURN AWAY – CHANGE. I need to turn and God will heal me. He’ll heal and restore my calloused heart. He’s the only one that can bring restoration. Thank you, Jesus, for loving me too much to just leave me in the mud where You found me.
So, with this, we say goodbye to Cambodia. The lessons that God taught me here, I carry in my heart, but more than that, I try to make it part of my life – one step at a time. Don’t try to do too much. Enjoy. Trust. And sometimes, just chill in God’s presence!