Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him. (Matthew 21: 31b, 32)
This Kenya of ours is interesting.
Do you realise that there are so many reversed
roles of late?
Politicians are all over speaking about God and
the way He has stepped into their situations even as people of God are all over
dissecting those statements and proclamations to prove that they are not
genuine.
You really wonder what a man of God is doing
trying to prove such a point and to whom he is doing it.
Someone is shouting that I am taking sides. But
I do not think so.
I was in a function the other day where several
politicians were present and stood to speak.
Even for the harshest critic, it would have
been impossible to remove the God element from their statements. God’s hand was
palpable to anyone who had ears to hear.
Can God’s hand be all politics?
Can a politician twist God’s hand to his
advantage?
Can I ascribe God’s hand into my machinations?
How wise is that? How human is it?
Is man’s nature not so full of pride? Does it
not seek prominence whichever position it occupies?
Prayer operates from a position of weakness and
vulnerability, not power.
Ascribing success to prayer is to actually
confess that I am nothing without God. I get all my power from God. I could not
have achieved anything on my own. My effort is worthless without God.
In short it is a confession of worthlessness,
weakness. It is a profession of faith in God who alone can make my worthlessness
worthwhile and my weakness strong.
Yet we are pouring scorn on leaders because
they are not ashamed of confessing their dependence on God. We are looking for
any other reason for their victory.
And we are not feeling ashamed of being
associated with the same God they are claiming to have come through for them.
Some are even saying it is ‘immoral’ for them
to have taken a thanksgiving service to state house.
Yet I read a Muslim defending the same since in
Islam there is no dichotomy between faith and other aspects of life.
If they prayed and received a positive answer,
what is wrong in shouting the same from the rooftops?
Since when did gratitude to God become
negative?
Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving
glorifies me, and prepares his way so that I will show God's salvation to
him." (Psalm
50:23) (WEB)
That is why I will not be surprised if God
passes us over and uses the politicians since they are more receptive to His
doings, and especially are appreciative when He does things only He can do.
Bash me all you want but I feel very strongly
about this.
This is a burden I received from God as I was
reading His word.
Do we want to have God operative in our
circumstances?
Then I think we might learn a thing or two from
our politicians.
They could be the harlots and publicans of our
day.
My wife gave me these verses as I was sharing
this message with her.
Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein
most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee,
Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in
you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre
and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works,
which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained
until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. (Matthew 11: 20 – 24)
Again, we see the same thing, only that this time
it is a judgment being proclaimed.
Are we on the lookout for God’s hand in the
affairs of men? Can we confidently ascertain the same when we see it?
You see, in Christ’s time, the religious
leaders knew everything there was to know about Christ. Yet they were unable to
identify the physical Him when He came.
They had lost the mystery of the waiting, the
craving for His appearing. To the point that they had complete encyclopedias of
how He ought to have come. They had become academic in the pursuit to the point
that a flesh and blood appearing flew off their well-prepared identification
radar.
But the riff raffs had no such luxuries. Their
lives required divine intervention and so easily connected with anyone sent
from there; from John the Baptist to Christ Himself.
And they easily received whatever was on offer,
be it calls to change and rebukes as was John’s commission to miracles and
signs as was with Christ.
They had no delicate theological arguments to
prove or disprove.
One verse explains their outlook.
He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or
no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. (John 9:25)
That is what I am seeing with our politicians.
They simply have no room for debates and arguments, however enlightened those
arguments might appear to be.
God stepped in our situation and changed it.
That is all that matters.
Incidentally those are the people God uses.
From the Samaritan woman to Mary Magdalene, we
see God taking the lowest to use them in great ways.
That is why I believe that Christ’s rebuke to
the Jews of His time is as potent to us as it was then.
And we had better go to our knees in repentance
if we will need to be used of God to bring a lost world to Him.
