I see hope…

In 2016 Nigeria, everyone tried to be crowd-correct. Everybody told sorry stories of a scary year. The national prayer was “may we never see its kind again.” But that wasn’t my testimony. I won’t call God a liar to be Nigeria-compliant about 2016. It was a great year of manifestation for me and my household. Our celebrations have been unending. Am I saying 2016 wasn’t an economic doom? Far from it. But the just lived by faith. It was a boom for me; great accomplishments, lifetime testimonies, peace that surpasseth and above all, rewarding deeper fellowship with my Creator.

The year also helped the elect to showcase the limitless capacity of Jehovah El-Shaddai, the God that is more than all global need. But it was a testimony that must be and has been told with caution in the midst of national anger. I’m sure many also enjoyed divine visitations like I did but kept the testimonies in their closet to avoid being tagged insensitive. It was a balancing act I had to do on many occasions, especially when seniors in faith, rambled through how they were savagely affected by the ills of the land, without a word of praise to God.

The national anthem was “o ga o, a ku ilu yi o” (This is indescribable tough time in this country). If you weren’t determined not to be ungrateful to your Maker and Great Provider, you would be lost in the accompanying long-winding lamentation and before you knew it, you would have become a wailing wailer.

But are the wailers acting Bob Marley for their love for vain noise? Humanly speaking, 2016 was a song with undecodable lyrics. Yoruba will call it (a o morin tan lu si gbedu) (a confounding situation). You don’t need to start defining the socio-economic situation for anyone, including kids. Family finances told stories. But not all families and stories.

In a recent conversation with a childhood friend who now lives in America, he derided his fellow countrymen and women as being overzealously religious, using it pejoratively to explain blacks’ poverty. He isn’t an atheist but buying into America’s “you are your capacity”. But hasn’t God recently proved Himself to those with the so-called capacity in their political space, confounding the wise with a really “foolish thing” in form of a man?

Nigerians have many vices but laziness would not be an acceptable universal description. Because we love life, we are forever seeking means of meeting our desire. We may not be too developmental but hopeful is a common adjective with us. That is why millions are hopeful that the new year, incidentally starting today, will bring better tidings than the one just ending, though everything empirical says otherwise.

I see hope too, but of a different kind. Not in Aso Rock, budget, Buhari, his kitchen or toilet cabinet, economy or its managers, OPEC or IMF, Made-in-Nigeria or Change-Begin-With-Them campaigns, Ofada rice or Tokunbo ban, CBN dollar projection and all warts.

I say with all emphasis that nothing will work in Nigeria as long as leaders remain wicked. The wicked are under God’s curse. When God curses a man, who is that man of God who can remove it? Religious leaders praying for these wicked leaders should tell them the truth. They have to return to God in genuine repentance before He can return to them to help. Man’s limitation is already manifesting in this government considered to be of better intentions than predecessors. Yes, God is plenteous in mercy but you can’t continue in sin and expect grace to abound. Grace is elastic for the wicked and God won’t compel a man to come unto His righteousness, though He stands at the door of our hearts knocking and wishing we would all open for Him to come in and sup with us.

I’m close to agreeing with Reuben Abati that Aso Rock is a demon habitation but what about supposed men of God who mill around the possessed ones? God says it shall be ill with the wicked and the people will only rejoice when the righteousness is in power. Where are the righteous in power in Nigeria today? No amount of prayer will alter God’s pronouncements. When Ephraim kept rejecting His grace, He decreed him desolate. That was exactly his lot and generations.

The temptation to tag nearly all our leaders Ephraim’s offspring is strong. Give them gold and they return it as useless brass. And these are men and women of supposed great accomplishments in their private lives. That is why those trumpeted accomplishments should be well investigated before handing them national fortune. Beyond the tainted bazaar-like security screening, it is time to involve genuine men of God in spiritual probe of those to be elected and appointed to manage our commonwealth. But with the church completely joining itself with idol of politics, isn’t the job now much more complicated?

But individuals can help themselves in 2017 by reasoning with God in obedience and willingness, to eat the good of the land. There is still good in the land regardless of so-called recession. There was depression in Samaria, leading to women who are naturally more caring, eating their children. But within hours, God of wonders proved Himself and shamed doubters. It is not unlikely many would see this as religious escapism, but many don’t receive from God because they want to continue in the old and receive the new. No, all things must become new, to receive the new. If we have leaders who have signed pacts with the devil, we can take our destiny away from their destructive path, by returning completely to God. Does Gibbers sound like the pulpit this morning? Pray, is there a better way to start an expected happy year?

The post I see hope… appeared first on Tribune.

via NAIJA Society http://ift.tt/2huhMvk