We saw that in the experience of Noah’s time. The flood of God came; the tide turned. Noah and his family, who most certainly were the butt of many cruel jokes; who were fit only for the oddities page and never for the celebrity pages of newspapers, became God’s celebrities; they became God’s partner in the onerous task of rebuilding the world. So, of course, will it be for the minority presently tediously swimming against the powerful current of evil in the land. They would be God’s partners in rebuilding our land. Everything God does follows a pattern and is according a Kingdom principle. Nigeria’s case will not be different. The evil that’s been currently touted as our culture; the perfidy that’s been projected as a foundation upon which we can “move the nation forward”; the on-going attempt to employ a reasonably good builder to build on quicksand will fail.
Monday, November 23, 2009 would just have been another day on the calendar, but for one momentous event. The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua fell critically ill and had to be hurriedly flown to hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Thus began a series of events which has taken eminent Nigerians including some clergymen to the streets in protest and last Tuesday led a group of youths to attempt to force their way into the National Assembly. An acting president is in place feeling his way through the exercise of executive power over the largest population of black people in the world. The power equation is fast changing.
As I reflected on the situation, I was reminded of a warning I was led to issue on this page on June 3, 2007. I shall quote it extensively, not for want of anything else to write, but because I believe, we are virtually there. So, here goes:
“You see, when you take a close look at the Nigerian condition brought sharply into focus by the events before, during and since the last elections, one cannot but remember one of the sayings of the Lord Jesus himself in the book of Matthew. He said: “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe (Noah) entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away…” (Matthew 24:38-39).
“Of course every one who has some acquaintance with the Bible knows that the Lord was referring to the pre-flood days recorded in Genesis chapter 6. For ease of reference however, let’s recall the story. Evil was bestriding the world, as I enjoy putting it, colossus-style. So bad was the situation that God was broken-hearted. The Bible says: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart (Genesis 6:5-6).
“Many of course were either oblivious of the situation; or too were too wrapped up in their desires or enjoying the fruits of their perfidy so much that nothing else mattered. They were having fun, holding banquets to celebrate ill-gotten wealth or fraudulently acquired power to notice that the drama was approaching a not-so-pleasant denouement. To borrow the contemporary word-paint of my dear pastor who inspired this piece, they were enjoying having their pictures, those of their many women and their palatial mansions on the pages of the magazines. They were the celebrities; the rave of the moment. They could afford to laugh to scorn, those who do not belong; call them names; even make them feel foolish, stupid etc. Noah was therefore a fool, or worse; he needed a shrink.
“The flood of evil was on, threatening to cover every inch of space and drown both the willing and the unwary. But God is never helpless. He would not let evil ride roughshod on his earth forever. So he decided to do something about it. He identified his uncontaminated remnant; the uncorrupted seed from which a new plantation can be cultivated. He found Noah. He decided to preserve him and wipe out the rest. The bible account in Genesis 6:7-8 states it like this: “And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
“Please let’s note the last part of verse 8 above. It says Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. I particularly love the Message Bible translation of this verse: “But Noah was different. GOD liked what he saw in Noah.” Are you different? Is God likely to like what he’s seeing in you? The Life Application Bible renders that same verse this way: ‘Noah was a pleasure to the Lord.” Are you a pleasure to the Lord? Or are you simply being a pleasure to that strange trinity that many currently worship – me, myself and I?
“This question is important because, every flood of evil is unfailingly followed by the cleansing flood of God. The current flood of evil in our nation manifesting in the unabashed celebration of fraud, illegality, abuse of power and sundry vulgarities will inexorably be followed by the flood of God. And our nation will be the better for it,
“We saw that in the experience of Noah’s time. The flood of God came; the tide turned. Noah and his family, who most certainly were the butt of many cruel jokes; who were fit only for the oddities page and never for the celebrity pages of newspapers, became God’s celebrities; they became God’s partner in the onerous task of rebuilding the world. So, of course, will it be for the minority presently tediously swimming against the powerful current of evil in the land. They would be God’s partners in rebuilding our land.
“Everything God does follows a pattern and is according a Kingdom principle. Nigeria’s case will not be different. The evil that’s been currently touted as our culture; the perfidy that’s been projected as a foundation upon which we can “move the nation forward”; the on-going attempt to employ a reasonably good builder to build on quicksand will fail.
“Mercifully we are in the dispensation of grace and the Noahic covenant symbolized by the occasional occurrences of the rainbow assures that the world would never again be wiped out by floods of water. But the floods of righteousness will yet come and it will sweep away all inequities, all injustices and all violence done to the psyche of God’s people. And God help the perpetrators and beneficiaries of these things. It is then and only then that Nigeria shall take her place in the end-time plans of God. Beware the flood to come.”
Dear compatriots, a flood is imminent.
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