“It’s just the way it is.”
August 27, 2018. That was a few days ago. For our family worship time, we looked at Psalm 25. We focused primarily on verses 4 and 5. King David writes:
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”
As a family we noticed a couple of things here … King David makes 3 requests from God.
- Make me to know your ways.
- Teach me your paths.
- Lead me in your truth.
We asked our boys what it means to “make me” to know your ways. Our thoughts and conclusion is that David desired for God to make him understand His ways. I don’t believe that this is always comfortable. Having God make you understand something would require some time, perhaps even stress, pain.
He continues to ask God to “teach me your paths.” As a teacher, I have the joy and privilege of teaching my students daily. I absolutely love the fact that I get to teach Bible to my grade 4’s, open God’s word and to share the Gospel – every day! We sort of came to an understanding that King David didn’t know everything. He needed God to teach him something, in this situation, God’s paths. Perhaps David was not making wise choices. Or perhaps David was simply seeking wisdom.
David ends by asking God to “lead me in your truth.” David writes over and over in the Psalms of his desire to know God’s truth. Here in verse 5, he’s asking God to lead him in His truth. We know that God’s truth is the ultimate standard of truth. There is nothing more truer than God. If God were to lead, our response ought to be, we would follow.
So why do I share this with you all? My prayers these days are:
“God, why did you bring us to Hong Kong?”
Timothy’s thoughts are, “I want to go back to Canada, forever.”
A year ago we came to HK, left basically everything to come, to be obedient to His leading, His calling. Was it a mistake? Did we “hear” wrong? Was there some kind of miscommunication? I don’t think so … however, living in Hong Kong, working in Hong Kong, daily life in Hong Kong, is a constant struggle. Personally I struggle with the culture, I struggle with how things are. “It’s just the way it is” doesn’t cut it for me anymore. That seems to be the answer every time there’s a question.
So what? Psalm 25 was somewhat convicting. I need to be praying … “Lord, make me to know your ways, teach me your paths and lead me in your truth.” I also need to be prepared for God’s answer as well.
Verse 9 and 10 of Psalm 25 reads, “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way. All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep His covenant and his His testimonies.” There is hope. Thankful that God’s love for our family is steadfast. Thankful that God is faithful even when we are faithless. And so, like King David writes at the end of verse 5 … “for you I wait all the day long.”
Pray that we would be teachable and humble during this season of our life. After all, this is Hong Kong.
Recently a good friend of ours here in Hong Kong posted a couple of articles on the topic of TCK’s. Some of you may be wondering what this is. We actually didn’t even know of this term until last year at some point and then questions and thoughts started to come about. So what does TCK stand for? Third Culture Kid. Basically, a TCK is “a term describing people who spend a significant part of childhood living outside their passport countries.” (Tanya Crossman, The Three Cultures of a Third Culture Kid).
Going the Wong Way HK 