Welcome to the October 25th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
The Story Of My Week
It's been pretty emotional this week especially taking in the whole events that happened in Nigeria following the #EndSARS protests
The peaceful protests turned violent after protesters were shot at by security forces. Most of the social media groups I belong too were buzzing with videos shared on the whole event and its aftermath
Some people took advantage of the whole situation and engaged in looting businesses of private individuals.
It was painful to see how businesses built with blood and sweat were destroyed in a single moment.
But it was heartening to see how people responded to the effects of this escalation
People came out to clean up their neighborhood.
And people are already coming out to try and support businesses that were looted
It shows that people can stand against the wrong in the society and be the good the society needs
And this is what the world needs, what the world will never stop needing
I want to be part of that people
That is my hope for the future
Things I Learnt
1-Small Stuff Matters to God: This week we celebrated the birthday of our son. It was a birthday I didn't think I was going to be around to be part of.
It wasn't the only date on the family calendar that I thought I was going to miss.
The first was our wedding anniversary in September
At the beginning of August, it looked like I was going to miss both dates.
But God stepped in to change the story we thought we as a family was meant to be living out during this season.
I didn't bring it up in prayer - even though I hoped I would be around.
These events have re-affirmed my confidence that the small stuff matters to God.
The God of the big stuff is the God of the small stuff.
Big stuff like saving the world and small stuff like making my son's birthday is perfectly balanced in His hands.
He's got the whole world in His hands
And everything else in between
2-When God Hides: Still on the matter of the #EndSARS protests. The mood went completely offbeat after the broadcast by the president.
One of the things I have learnt in my walk with God is that He plays the long game. And He doesn't mind been unseen even when He is at work.
After the 2019 elections in Nigeria, I shared something with a group of friends. It was my perception of how I saw God at work.
After the president's broadcast, I re-shared the same message to the friends to remind them that God was still at work. I hoped it would encourage them.
The message is not only for Nigeria. It could help you build a Godly perspective about political leadership and how God works through them.
It's a long one - but I'd like to share it with you.
I hope it encourages your heart.
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Good morning family
A part of me wondered if I should write about the elections. But I can feel the emotions of some of you.
I had some of that after the outcome of the American presidential elections in 2016. This is in part due to the fact that I didnot like the personality of the winner and the other reason was very personal. God had told me about Trump and the success ahead of him. I interpreted it to mean that he would clinch the Republican Nomination and no more. The outcome reminded once again of the most important thing needed when we hear God - the wisdom to interpret rightly.
I don't claim to be a prophet. I am just a friend of God that He sometimes chooses to tell me stuff. So, leading to this last elections, God told me about the outcome. And it was at the time when the "Atikulate" fever was getting hotter and hotter. I actually saw a possibility of winning for him.
The clear message to me was "Buhari would win not because of what he does but because of judgement".
Based on this I just thought to share a few things with you guys in the hope that it would lift up your spirits and re-affirm your hope in God's plan for Nigeria.
The scriptures encourage us to be excited when God comes with judgment
Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness Ps 96:13
But I am reminded where judgment will start from
For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God 1 Pet 4:17
But God starts from His people so He can have them ready to do the real work when judgment starts with the ungodly
He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness Malachi 3:3
And what do I think the judgment will bring?
They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath. It will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs, for it has caused them to stumble into sin Ezekiel 7:19
In all this, I believe that God will use Buhari to fulfill His will for the good of God's people in accordance to God's will - and even he himself will not know this. Let me use an example from the bible and history.
Prophet Isaiah talks about God's using Cyrus to free His people (Isaiah 45:1-13) years before the people went into exile while Jeremiah writes about the number of years they would be in Exile (Jer 25:11). Later on, Ezra writes in detail the edit that Cyrus wrote to accomplish this (Ezra 1:1-11).
But there is a piece of history that is often not remembered. Cyrus did not do this for just the Israel - He did for every nation that the Babylonians had captured and kept their items of worship in their storage
Let me read you a bit of something from The Cyrus Cylinder
I am Cyrus, King of the World, Great King, Mighty King, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, King of the Four Quarters, the son of Cambyses, Great King, King of Anšan, grandson of Cyrus, Great King, King of Anšan, descendant of Teispes, Great King, King of Anšan, of an eternal line of kingship, whose rule Bêl and Nabu love, whose kingship they desire for their hearts' pleasure. When I entered Babylon in a peaceful manner, I took up my lordly abode in the royal palace amidst rejoicing and happiness. Marduk, the great lord, established as his fate for me a magnanimous heart of one who loves Babylon, and I daily attended to his worship
From [Babylon] to Aššur and (from) Susa, Agade, Ešnunna, Zamban, Me-Turnu, Der, as far as the region of Gutium, the sacred centers on the other side of the Tigris, whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time, I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there, to their places and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings. In addition, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I settled in their habitations, in pleasing abodes, the gods of Sumer and Akkad, whom Nabonidus, to the anger of the lord of the gods, had brought into Babylon
May all the gods whom I settled in their sacred centers ask daily of Bêl and Nâbu that my days be long and may they intercede for my welfare. ... The people of Babylon blessed my kingship, and I settled all the lands in peaceful abodes
The Cyrus cylinder (c. 538 B.C), as translated at Livius.org
As you can read, Cyrus did this to make every local deity happy so the people could pray for his welfare. But he did not realise that selfish as his intent was, he was fulfilling something that had been written about him over a century ago.
So, be encouraged. Your candidate may not have won, God is still going to use the winner for His purpose - even when the winner doesn't know he is been used to that end.
And yes God will bring judgment (and probably starting with His people), His judgment has our best good in mind.
PS: This is my intepretation so I don't claim perfect accuracy on this matter. You can easily ignore it. But I hope I can turn your heart to a God who is in control of every outcome and remind you that nothing catches Him off guard
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Postscript
May you see God at work even in the things you don't understand (Amen)
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