Psalm 145 QT
What wonderful praise of the Lord is in Psalm 145! Davidamprsquos praise of God reminded me of how little I have been praising the Lord for my life, my wife, my family, my church, my mokjang, and my work recently. Even though I have been reading the daily passage and doing very small QTs and praying every night, I have drifted from the Lord these last weeks and felt isolated for many reasons, not just because of the coronavirus.
I will start with yesterday and my troubles registering for the next semester at Yonsei. Ever since I was guided to do my PhD at that university, there have been problems registering and paying each semester. I usually end up either going to the graduate school office in person or having a Korean friend navigate the minefield of Yonseiamprsquos online system, which has subtle differences between the English and Korean versions.
My friend always has to call someone to explain my difficulties and receive directions not on the English version of things. Even though I have so many examples of Godamprsquos hand on me during my years there, every semester I run into roadblocks trying to register. Is this Satan trying to derail me because he doesnamprsquot want me to write what God has inspired me to write on C.S. Lewis?
When I woke up to that thought, I realized that I had not been praying regularly for Godamprsquos protection on my studies. Instead of glorifying God as David does in Psalm 145, and proclaiming all heamprsquos done and is doing for me, I kept choosing to do something on my own and then wonder why it always gets screwed up. I also realized that I had not regularly asked my mogwons to pray for me about this. I was being spiritually careless and a poor example to them.
Last Sunday was the first time in our churchamprsquos history that we had the translation of the sermon uploaded on the church homepage and on YouTube.
I was full of praise to God and the translator and those at church who had arranged this.
Now I could listen to the sermon throughout the week and not have to depend on my small notes to remind me of what Iamprsquod heard and what God wanted to teach me. But I didnamprsquot check with my mogwons to see if theyamprsquod listened to the sermon or what they felt about it.
Again, I was being spiritually careless. I was not joining with others in praising God for giving us good teaching during this time of coronavirus anxiety, helping us to stay focused on what is truly important in our lives.
Because of the rising number of cases of the virus and concerns for our safety, our church closed its physical doors and moved our worship online. As mokja, I havenamprsquot yet done that for our mokjang, only talked about it. As principal of my school, I had to make the decision on Sunday to close the school this week. There was much to organize to tell parents and teachers and cancel buses and cafeteria service and so on.
On Monday morning I met with the teachers to plan for online learning for the week and possibly beyond. I met with the office staff on how to manage with a skeleton service. Messages with other school heads was hourly as we tried to co-ordinate a coherent response and help for each other.
My praise for the Lord my God, my rock, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, and my shield was absent from my heart, my mind, and my mouth. I was lost in worldly details. Again, I did not ask my mogwons for prayers in my work situation. Worse, I did not ask what their prayers were for themselves and their situations in an anxious time so that we could all be praying for each other.
I did not lead us in a prayer, easily done through apps such as Hangouts. I left myself and my fellows in isolation, forgetting to praise our Lord who loves us and is keeping us safe, as David said in verse 20: ampldquoThe Lord watches over all who love him.amprdquo
How could I forget? When I read that verse, I remembered another verse similar to it, 1 Cor. 8:3: ampldquoWhoever loves God is known by him.amprdquo God knows me despite my small love for him, a love full of forgetfulness. I praise my Lord for the coronavirus because it has revealed my sin of spiritual carelessness to me. I lost sight of what is important and acting on it. Even though my love for God is small, he still watches over me and so with David I say, Praise the Lord!
Application: Contact my mogwons today and set up a kakao mokjang time this week.
