Cambodia -- My Hypocrisy?

Written while I was there. Published now.

I sit here, on a couch, in a foreigners’ hotel, next to the Mekong River in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I’m supposed to be writing the plan for my Bible lesson for the kids in a “suburban village” we are going to this evening after church. My stomach is feeling a bit uncomfortable. I stop to write this “reflective essay” because I find that I am faced with a choice. I could stand up, go to the fridge, and eat. I could relieve my small hunger pains, return to my computer screen, notebook, and Bible, and continue writing words of encouragement for the children in this factory village. But, isn’t that hypocritical?

When their stomachs feel uncomfortable, whether it is because of hunger pangs or those other, sickly reasons, are they able to immediately rise up, go across the room (which they don’t have) and pull out some leftover food that is just waiting to be consumed? If hunger is not the source of their pain, can they easily get up and go to the toilet? Go get medicine from the cabinet? Have their parents drive them to the doctor?

No.

Isn’t my ease of being full and overfilled a type of hypocrisy?

This stance may not be true for the world, but the conviction is true for me. For at least three years I have been thinking about Matthew 5 and the hungry who will be filled in heaven, the mournful who will find their joy in heaven, and those of us who have lived happy, full-stomached lives who will still – get as much reward for our life trials and choices as those who have experienced real starvation and life destruction?! 

Based on Matthew 5, I think I won’t. 

(WARNING! CAUTION!! Does this come from a mind that fights to go back to earning the approval of God? –Yes. And yet, I will continue to build a case for my point.)

It is true, I will know greater joy and fullness in the eternal presence of Jesus, but will I know it to the same depth of sweetness as those who have hungered and mourned to great depths of starvation and sorrow? I actually think not. How can I? I have chosen and been filled with the immediate pleasures of this world rather than denying myself and waiting for eternity. (Biblical? The other side: I am welcomed to enjoy the blessings of the Lord because He has chosen to bestow them upon me, thus far, while I live on this earth.) 

Perhaps this is the true point of God’s conviction upon my soul: have I been sharing His blessings appropriately?

I will say it clearly so there is no confusion: There is nothing inherently wrong with earthly wealth, but what does the accumulation of wealth reveal about my heart?

Where my treasure is there my heart will be also.

And so, I sit here with my conundrum. I am, I think, legitimately hungry. It would be no sin for me to go to the fridge to get something to eat. The food is there and already purchased. We will be eating it anyways. But, where does this pattern of the “necessity of comfort” end? If the Lord has convicted my soul, then I must choose to take steps to change. When do I start to take those steps? How do I keep those steps in a consistent manner?

Suddenly, I am aware of the time.

I need to go finish writing my Bible lesson about Matthew 8 – the leper and Jesus.

With such ease my conundrum of hypocrisy continues. I will put off eating my breakfast for a few more minutes, a short-term way to placate the wrestlings of my heart.

Cambodian Reflections - Part 1

Written three days ago with the intention of being posted sooner.

We made it to the beach. The crashing waves are exciting each of our souls, and we are thankful.

We came in around 4 on Saturday afternoon, checked in to our rooms, and headed to the hotel's beachfront restaurant. (We're not in Phnom Penh anymore.) After eating our food, self-restraint was no longer a virtue. We ran up and down the shore, frolicking in the delights of God's creation until, at last, we jumped in to experience the power of the crashing waves against our bodies. A delight and a half.

As we played, our thoughts continued to drift back to the reality of the power of God. God sat as King at the Flood and He sits enthroned forever. The disciples were shocked when they witnessed how even the wind and the waves obeyed His voice. To Him belong glory, honor, majesty, and power. The twenty-four elders and the four eye-covered creatures recognize this with continuous exaltation. His power is great and greatly to be praised.

The day before we left for the beach we went to an NGO-established House of Prayer. Hallelujah and amen! It's a cool place. On the first floor they have a restaurant that makes and sells scrumptious delights. When you have finished sampling their wares, you walk up the stairs to the section designed to be the House of Prayer. On the second floor they have set up different stations to help you pray and worship through creative outlets. There's a photograph station, writing station, painting station, music station, couches, pillows, books on prayer and spiritual warfare, and huge windows to look out and see the people on the street.  It is great.

Halfway through our time there a man came to guide the music and intercession for those involved in sex trafficking. Another group joined at this time. We sang and prayed together, united in the hope of what can be accomplished through the power of the Gospel. After all, what other authority can break through the chains imprisoning the hearts of the men, women, and children in Cambodia? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

In light of this, how much more diligently and purposefully should His children be interceding for those who have not yet risen from the dead? How much more should those who are apart of His Body pray for those already inside His Body as well as for those who are ceaselessly working for the souls and people in Cambodia?

We love to play in the crashing waves. I think it's so thrilling because I have the opportunity to wrestle with power. I want to see if I can stand up against the energy of the wave. Can I harness its power and ride it to the shore? Will it throw me to the ground? Will it lift me to the heights? There’s joy in the danger.

If the power we see in the waves is such a small glimpse of the actual power the God of the universe possesses, how much more should we then choose to go before His throne and intercede for others? All our efforts without His power are as nothing, but through and in His power they can accomplish everything.

As CS Lewis said in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, "He is not a tame lion.” Our God does not have power or majesty that can be tamed. There is risk in that reality. Will we choose to sit outside and question, or will we jump in by faith and trust that whatever He may choose it is for our good and His glory? We have the opportunity to sit outside His power and watch how He works, because He will work without us. But, if we step in to participate with Him in and through prayer we have the delight of experiencing the working power of our Creator for the benefit of ourselves, our local fellowships, the Cambodian church, as well as the Global Body.

May we choose to jump in and allow the power of the waves of His work rush over us -- and those for whom we pray.

Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.

The Lord watches over the sojourners; He upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked He brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 146:3-10