Tag Archives: Hope

January 1, 2021 · 9:19 pm

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

Some of the best memories that I have and the best friends that I have kept so far were made between 1990 and 1995 in a remote village in Niger State, Nigeria. Those were my secondary school years. Those days bring loads of smiles to my face and I still catch myself singing the anthem of my school often and of course I’m still in touch with most of my classmates and some teachers.

No matter how much I enjoyed those days, I had to move on in June 1995. I had to take my eyes off the rear-view mirror, move on to University and also move on from there when my days for that phase were completed.

Sometimes, what we see in the rear-view mirror may not be as pleasant as my secondary school experience. The road to where we are coming from may be awash with pain and losses, but we have to keep moving, as long as we are still living.

No matter how bitter or how sweet our past experiences may be, we cannot afford to chain ourselves to those experiences. Paul captured it perfectly in Philippians 3:12 – 14

I admit that I haven’t yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion so that I may reach the purpose that Jesus Christ has called me to fulfil and wants me to discover. I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however, I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory-prize through the anointing of Jesus.

My fingers have been burnt multiple times in different aspects of life. I will not wrap my fingers in bandage and refuse to do anything because of fear of being burnt again. Instead, I will heal and learn from the experience and ensure I don’t get burnt in the same way again.

During some of the low ‘valley moments’ that we experience, we may not be able to see beyond the boundaries of where we are. In such times, I believe the best counsel is for us to put our hands in God’s hands and let him lead us, one step at a time. Most times, we may not be aware of the end game, just like Joseph was not aware that he was going to eventually rub shoulders with royalty when he was sold by his brothers. He lived his life glorifying God, one day at a time, bearing no grudges as he moved along. Reaching new heights as a servant and a prisoner before he eventually got to the palace. He never let the bad moments drive him to despair, laziness or mediocrity. He always showed up.

We also have a few examples of people that were too attached to their rear-view mirrors and they didn’t go too far that way. Lot’s wife is one example. Another example is the group of Israelites that left Egypt for the Promised Land. Over 600,000 men with their families left Egypt. Sadly, only 2 of those men made it to the Promised Land. Many times, they got offended at God because they compared their experiences on the trail to the ‘luxury’ they had in Egypt 

We are at the beginning of a new year – 2021. No matter the cards we were dealt by 2020, we have to move on. We will not make any progress if our vision of the future is constrained by the lens of 2020 stuck to our eyes. The year may have been great. The year may have been ‘ungreat’. It is time to take our eyes off the rear-view mirror and steady ourselves on the forward journey. We have to show up every day, pray, have faith and put our best feet forward in whatever our hands find to do. The same way the Lord was with Joseph as well as the 3 Hebrew boys, He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Go through each day with this assurance in mind. God will go with you.

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December 26, 2020 · 5:09 pm

OVERWHELMED

2020 has been a special year by almost every standard. Different people have used different adjectives to describe the year that is coming to an end. Many of the adjectives have not been anything close to positive. OVERWHELMING is one of those adjectives. Many people are genuinely overwhelmed by everything that has happened and the things that are still happening this year. The list of adjectives could go on and on. 

One man that knew how it truly felt to be overwhelmed was King David. He experienced this from his days as King Saul’s therapist to his days as the King of Israel. King Saul attempted to eliminate him multiple times. He ended up being on the run till the King died in battle. In one of those episodes, his men even turned against him when they got back to their base and realized they had lost everything they had. When he eventually became the King, his son Absalom planned a coup and deposed him from the throne after some years. He went on the run again until Absalom’s death.

During one of the episodes when he was overwhelmed by everything that was happening around him, he cried out to God:

“O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety” Psalms 61: 1-2

We can find comfort and reassurance in the fact that God always strengthened and encouraged him at all those times. There are many more examples in the Bible about people that cried out to the Lord when they were neck-deep in trouble and God always answered them in His own way. In our contemporary times, God has not stopped answering prayers. He is our Father and He truly cares. He has always cared and He will never stop caring.

At the beginning of this year – 2020, nobody could have imagined that we would be where we are today. The year may have thrown many things at us, and indeed some of those things might have felt too heavy for us to carry sometimes. The losses may have come in different scales, just like the gains too. We may have many unanswered questions. But like David and all the other examples in the Bible, we can always go to God when we are under the weight of whatever is thrown at us. He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. This is not a promise that all the troubles of 2020 are going to be rolled away by midnight on December 31. It is an assurance from God’s word in Isaiah 43:2 that 

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.

The experience of going through the fire or being pushed along by river currents is definitely not a pleasant one. I will borrow the words of John Piper and say “…that the same sovereignty that could stop the coronavirus, yet doesn’t, is the very sovereignty that sustains the soul in it”. Whatever it is that has come your way this year, God is able to sustain you through it. God is able to make you overcome it. God is able to make you better at the end of it all. God will still be God at the other side of those challenges.

As the year draws to a close, my prayer is that we will firmly plant our hope in God because He is the source of our peace. Because…He will keep in perfect peace all who trust in Him, all whose thoughts are fixed on Him! Isaiah 26:3

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November 11, 2012 · 5:12 pm

Chasing The Sunset

Recently, I have taken to a favourite past time of chasing the sunset. Each evening, I drive around looking for the perfect location for a perfect shot of the setting sun. It’s always such a wonderful sight to behold as the sun goes to sleep behind the clouds. It doesn’t always end on that positive note. Sometimes, I end up chasing the wind and getting no shots.

One thing I have found out in my quest is that every sunset has its peculiar DNA. No two sunsets are the same. The sun’s sleeping time is different each day. The sunset location is different and the ambience is different. If I set up at the scene of the picture-perfect shot from the previous day, I’ll be met with disappointment, because the sun in its wisdom would have found another resting place and the cloud profile will obviously be different. No matter when and where it chooses to happen, one sure thing is that the sun will always set each evening. There is no contention about this fact. I’m pretty sure that this applies to the sunrise as well. I’ve never had the luxury of seeing the sun rouse from sleep.

This phenomenon is analogous to the different paths that we follow in life. The easiest natural thing to do is to expect a life synchronised with a pre-conceived pattern. Somewhere in the recesses of our mind, we have already determined the time and location of the sunset. We have decided when we’ll graduate from school, get employed, get married, have kids and go on that dream holiday. We often start to lose sleep, when things don’t turn out as expected. We forget that even for identical twins, the stories don’t quite end on the same page.

Somehow, we manage to forget that we serve a faithful God, who created a highway in the Red Sea for His Children to pass through and made sure they never went to bed hungry every day for forty years. He made Abraham and Sarah parents in an illogical way. He sent a raven to deliver food to Elijah as he was hiding by the brook. In answer to Elijah’s prayers, He sent down fire to consume the sacrifice and He held up the rains for three and half years. Joshua prayed and the sun stood still, till the battle was over. What a mighty God we serve!

No matter how your sunsets are shuffled and everything seems out of place. You may have missed all your set targets. In all things, always remember that God promised to give you an expected end. As long as the sun rises each day, there will always be a sunset and God is too faithful to forsake you. Hold on to His unflinching promises.

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