Revival

UV 835-10,000 Revival Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. Psalm 138 v 7 Trouble, affliction, persecution, problems and suffering are endemic and natural in this life. The reason is that in the absence of trouble in our lives, we would be unmindful of God. We would forget and ignore Him. But the Lord promises to be with us in our troubles lift us out of our despondency. He will revive our sagging spirits. He will give us inner strength and feed us with His living hope. We are in the midst of trouble but the glory of the Lord is in our midst. The trouble is permitted to occur in our lives so that we will see the deliverance that the Lord works out for us and be thankful and give glory to God. Troubles are a sign that man is neither self sufficient nor independent. He needs to depend on God to defend himself. Here is a picture of a man caught in battle and the Lord rushes to his aid. With His left hand He brushes aside the enemies and with His right hand He saves him. We are always caught in a situation that is fraught with risk and frequented by trouble. But the Lord assures us in this uni-verse that He will not leave us to fend for ourselves. The reality of God is proved when He intervenes in our life storms and commands, “ Peace, be still.” In our lowest moments, our saddest times, our weakest as well as in the high points of our lives, the Lord is faithful. We need to be faithful when the going is good and when the going is tough and rough. We should not be troubled by trouble as the Lord is sure to find a way out for us. He will demonstrate His power, wisdom, love and grace. Troubles are God’s way of getting our attention. It will help us discipline ourselves to focus on our priority in life-knowing God and becoming like Him. Last night, I was listing the lessons I learnt about life, my self, about the Lord, His Word, the world and people when I was injured in the world’s first human bomb assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It was certainly the lowest point in my life. But as I hit rock bottom, I decided to re-build the broken pieces of my life with the help of the Rock of Ages. The Lord send His Holy Spirit to comfort me. He used His Word to revive me. He sent angels and men and women of God to encourage me. The lessons below that I learnt from this experience became a new source of strength. I am sharing these with you so that you don’t need to survive a bomb blast to learn and live these life lessons: I was chosen for survival over the lives of former Prime Minister RG and others who perished in the world's first human bomb. It is obvious that God has intended that my destiny would be even greater than his. As one friend wrote to me at the time," it is a dramatic confirmation of God's special purpose for your life. " A large number of life’s lessons I learnt that night after the Bomb exploded killing 18 people including the VIP. I list these below: 1. We live in such an evil world. Salvation from our inherent evil is our greatest need 2. Our faith will always be vindicated. God never lets down the faithful 3. God is true to His promise in Psalm 91 “ A thousand shall fall beside you, ten thousand beside you but it shall not come near you.” 4. I had helped a constable get enough money to do his wife’s heart surgery. I expected help from him as I lay injured. But help came from an unexpected quarter- an unknown stranger who gave me drops of water to quench my thirst caused by loss of blood from multiple wounds. 5. The unexpected can happen at any time though everything looks normal on the surface 6. People senior to you will only try to cover their own backs and save their own skin 7. Human ingenuity in inventing methods of violence is unmatched in any species 8. Fact is often stranger than fiction- only months before the blast I had read of a woman sniper who acted as an unlikely assassin in a Ludlum thriller. 9. Nobody weeps over you except your own family- despite all the fawning on the VIP, I found only people crying over their own kith and kin and no one crying over the slain leader. Hence value your family most. 10. The greatest lessons in life are often learnt from life’s worst experiences 11. It is best to travel light- I had only one hundred rupee note in my pant pocket in case I needed to buy my lunch. The doctors found it. 12. Prayer is life saving. I had prayed that afternoon, : Lord preserve our lives 13. There are severe limits to our knowledge and ability but God is not limited. He found a way to re-direct hundreds of steel pellets either away from me or to have it lodge in non lethal bone and tissue without causing internal bleeding injuries that can cause death 14. Vengeance and violence does not pay. It is counterproductive and does not advance the cause of anybody. 15. When you are down and out, your rank and position in life, your family background, your qualifications do not count 16. There are some situations in life that no amount of training can prepare you for 17. Your colleagues and companions are the first to write you off 18. The system always look for scapegoats to fix the blame 19. The powerful and influential will close ranks to hide the truth 20. Every terrible experience has some terrific truths hidden in it that are valuable to even those who never went through that experience directly 21. Every conversation however and seemingly casual has meaning and consequences: when my then boss asked me “ If I had seen my new born daughter’s horoscope I said, “No sir, I don’t believe in that . I believe God will take care of me.” 22. One learns a lot more from pain and suffering than from pleasure and comfort 23. Your belief in your self and your destiny will carry you through any ordeal 24. In God ‘s eyes though not in man’s , every life counts- there is no concept of VIP or VOP –Very Ordinary Person 25. Your inner combative strength is automatically mustered when you stand alone. 26. When people tell you that they care only for your career as their career is almost over since I was then only a young Assistant Superintendent of Police, don’t believe them for what they actually mean is “ It will be only one small cut on my neck” as warned by another officer who knew about their true intention. 27. When there is a crisis, people will disown that they had any responsibility and that it was all the fault of someone else below them Prateep V Philip