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Chinese Lunar New Year, which is coming in next week, is a holiday season oftentimes celebrated similarly to the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration at the States. It gives families an opportunity to get together with members who may have been apart for a whole year. For those who are remote in the States and therefore couldn’t enjoy the family reunion time, may have mixed feelings.

One of the important elements in the Chinese New Year celebration is “food”. 🙂  I still remember those good old days living with my parents. Apart from fresh food bought from market, my father would prepare some delicacies by himself with his own secret recipes. One of his famous ones is “marinated pork liver” – in essence, it is a “hardened” pork liver with spices and wine. The process of making this marinated pork liver, as I recalled, is quite lengthy and laborious. A fresh liver would need to be marinated first, then hang it dry the 2^nd day, then re-marinated again. The repeated process of marinating and hang-it-dry would eventually harden the pork liver to a nice and good taste of meat. Throughout the process, there is no machine involved and it takes time with patience to make it. A success one is a hardened but still soft within one.

Except the mixed homesick feeling, you may wonder why I mention this marinated pork liver. In our daily Bible study of the book of Exodus, we may be amazed how God led the Israelites out of Egypt through ten miracles. Do we feel intriguing why God said, “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 14:4)”? Does this mean it is NOT Pharaoh’s desire, but God’s intention, to pursue the Israelites? If we read the Scriptures carefully, it reveals that is NOT the case. “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” (Exodus 14:5). This indicates that the first cause of the “hardened heart” was Pharaoh himself, as God already knew it! The purpose of this hardened process is God will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that “He is the LORD.”

Now, let’s go back to the marinated pork liver process. How is it related to our journey of faith? If we consider the marinating spices are like the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, then the hang-it-dry process is as if we are drifting from God intentionally for a period. This process, as you can imagine, would produce a “hardened heart” eventually. It, in fact, becomes a “delicacy” to the evil one. Therefore, two things are worth our attention. One is the worldly desires and the other is drifting from God intentionally due to business. My dear brothers and sisters, let us be alert and be aware that this world and the evil one are trying every possible means to “harden” our heart. Only come to our Lord then we can be alive and well. No matter where we are, we can be sure that our God promised us that “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 我 也 要 賜 給 你 們 一 個 新 心 ， 將 新 靈 放 在 你 們 裡 面 ， 又 從 你 們 的 肉 體 中 除 掉 石 心 ， 賜 給 你 們 肉 心 。(Ezekiel 36:26)”. May He protect you and keep you.