Reflection: Emmanuel in the Midst of Challenges

WCIU Journal: Worldview Topic

December 17, 2019

May Nor Clara Cheng has a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is Associate Professor in Psychological Anthropology at William Carey International University. She served with OMF International for sixteen years in Japan, in the Philippines, and in Taiwan.

Her area of expertise is equipping cross-cultural workers in their inner-beings in order to lead a healthy emotional, social, and spiritual life and to be effective in their cross-cultural endeavors.

by May Nor Clara Cheng

At WCIU, our students are serving in various parts of the world.  Though the location of where each of us serves may be a more familiar place, I am sure that we face various kinds of challenges in our services, at different stages in our lives.  If you are like me and your mind does not relax easily, facing challenges is especially difficult.  What challenges do you face in your ministry today?  And what is the most significant promise in the Bible for you that gives you confidence to face your challenge?

Regardless of what kind of challenges we are facing, I believe that our ultimate challenge is our anticipation in “Emmanuel.” The definition of that word is “God with us.”  Jesus concludes his Great Commission by saying, “And surely, I will be with you always to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b) (NIV).  Now, I would like to share with you four kinds of challenges I observe from some Bible passages related to Emmanuel.

First Challenge: No Awareness of God’s Intervention

In the story of the Israelites’ famine when they were besieged by the Aramean Army, we learn that God caused the Israelites’ enemy to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army in the late evening.  The Arameans fled away for their lives.  The Israelites only found out that God already intervened when four men with leprosy tried to get some food from their enemies.  Their enemy was dispersed while they were sleeping (2 Kings 6-7)!  A similar intervention happened in the story when the Assyrian Army mocked the Jewish people’s faith in God and besieged Jerusalem in the time of King Hezekiah. (2 Kings 18-19)  The angel of the Lord went out and put to death thousands of their enemies at night.  “When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies” (2 Kings 19:35)!

Second Challenge:  Inaction on our Part and Relying Entirely on God’s Own Move

In the story of how the Israelites took over the City of Jericho, we see that God did not even ask them to be brave and fight.  In fact, they were commanded to just blow the trumpets and to follow the Ark, marching around the city once silently for six days.  And on the seventh day, they did so by circling the city seven times and shouting (Joshua 20).  They overcame by simply following the symbol of the presence of the Lord.  We see the same challenge in the story of the Jewish people facing the vast army from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir.  God told them that they did not need to be afraid or be discouraged.  They did not even need to fight the battle.  When the appointed men (by King Jehoshaphat) began to sing praises, God set ambushes against their enemies, who then destroyed one another (2 Chronicles 20).

Third Challenge: Fighting Fiercely Against the Enemy

From the stories of David, we learn that he was a warrior who fought fiercely against his enemies.  But he summarized his experiences of fighting in Psalm 18 like this:

I love you, O Lord, my strength.  The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. . . In my distress I called to the Lord. . . He parted the heavens and came down. . . He rescued me from my powerful enemy. . . He brought me out into a spacious place. . . My God turned my darkness into light.  With your help I can advance against a troop, with my God I can scale a wall . . . he enables me to stand on the heights.  He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.  You give me your shield of victory. . .
(NIV, Psalm 18)

We see David ascended from distress to victory, like the verses found in Romans:

If God is for us, who can be against us?  . . . Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble of hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  . . . No, in all these thigs we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not any powers,  . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(Romans 8:31 & 35-39)

Fourth Challenge: Persevering Joyfully in the Midst of Persecution

In the story of Paul and Silas in prison, they were stripped, beaten, and jailed in the inner cell with their feet shackled, yet we see that they were praying and singing hymns to God!  And when a violent earthquake shook the foundations of the prison and loosened up all the prisoners’ chains and doors, they remained peaceful even to the jailer.  They were so calm that they led the jailer’s family to the Lord and even demanded a lawful escort out of the prison, instead of running away.  They then continued to encourage the believers before they left (Acts 16).  Actually in Acts chapter 5, we see Peter and the apostles responded the same even early on when they were persecuted.  They were already jailed by the Sanhedrin and miraculously released by angels.  But they were brought back by the temple guards to the Sanhedrin again to be questioned.  They were flogged and almost executed before they were finally released.  What was the apostles’ response?  “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.  Day after day . . .  proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ” (Acts 5:42).  I am sure that they could persevere joyfully because they experienced the presence of God in unexpected ways.

Now, what is the challenge in your life?  In your ministry?  May we all anticipate and experience the promise of Emmanuel: “… surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age.”