I have been thinking about Esau a lot lately! Esau the brother of Jacob was a first born who forfeited his birthright because he over-frustrated himself about a temporary problem – hunger – and resorted, out of a failure to think deeply and fundamentally, to a generational sell-off of his birthright. Ask yourself, how likely was it that Esau in Biblical times could have died of the hunger that made him trade off his inheritance? How long would it have taken for Esau to find a goat, hen or lamb and cook his own meal? One hour? Two hours, at worst three? How could Esau have so magnified his own hunger that he was willing to lose an eternal inheritance in search of instant gratification? Many contemporary Nigerian Christians will scoff at Esau’s foolishness, but how often do we take similar decisions of generational or even eternal import only because of a temporary lust for wealth (food) or power? How many times do we trade our God-given role as salt and light, as head and not tail, in order to eat of the king’s food? Evidently, I have been thinking about Daniel too, the one who had a spirit of excellence that caused all the princes and presidents to conspire against him and plot his route into the lion’s den? The experiences of Daniel are without doubt some of the most fascinating ones for me in the Bible as I see the enemies of Daniel every day and everywhere in my country. There is nothing certain to inspire hatred and conspiracy in our people than a man or woman who carries a spirit of excellence. For such Daniels and Daniellas, they carry such excellence as inherent in their nature. They are usually neither proud nor conceited, but more usually in fact quiet and humble. They assume that they do not threaten anyone and simply try their best to fulfil a mission which they have settled on as their divine assignment. What they are often unaware of is that for carnal and mundane people, a person with an excellent spirit is considered a mortal danger and they identify such people from a mile away. That was why Daniel’s rivals persuaded the king to enact a law simply to entrap him; and why in Nigeria, the best people are usually eliminated early in the game, so that the eventual contest is between the mediocre and the below-average! I have also been reflecting on Joseph, another one with a divinely ordained spirit of excellence as well as a good, if naïve, inclination towards his brothers and fellow men. So Joseph, assuming everyone is good and without guile, informs his brothers that he saw a dream or vision in which they bowed before him! He obviously could not imagine that his brothers could envisage or plan evil against him as a consequence. So Joseph was sold into slavery by his brethren, but as is usual with his kind, even in Egypt he was also persecuted due to his refusal to oblige the seduction of Pharaoh’s spouse and ended up in prison. Yet Joseph rose to become prime minister and finance minister in a foreign land, and helped the country of his diaspora to escape the consequences of seven years of famine! By the way, I have recently written about the example of regarding how a nation whose wealth is based upon commodities acts to save up during the seven years of plenty in order to cope with the seven years of famine that is virtually bound to follow! Apparently, modern-day economic managers, governors, legislators and presidents could learn one or two things from the Bible! Joseph’s lesson has been learnt by many other oil producing countries which have set up sovereign wealth funds to ensure national savings and investment to insulate them from oil price collapses. There is of course a political dimension too to Joseph’s life! For anyone who wants to emulate Joseph and serve under Pharaoh, there is the distinct possibility, indeed likelihood, that sooner than later, there comes a king who knew not Joseph (!) and the Israelites’ pursuit of food in Egypt under Joseph’s patriarchy swiftly transformed into slavery and oppression under Pharaoh – a painful era that lasted more than four hundred years! May the Lord have mercy! Of course, I have been thinking about our Lord, Saviour and Messiah, Jesus Christ, the reason we celebrate Christmas and the one whose pre-ordained birth, gospel, ministry, persecution, death and resurrection is the foundation for our faith. The core of Christ’s work was founded on love and compassion – love of the Father; love of the world; compassion for the poor, weak, those in bondage of sin and death, and love of those who are rejected and who thirst for righteousness. It is the absence of love and compassion in the world that makes it such a difficult place to live in; and the example of the early church shows us how a world filled with love would be. As I celebrated Christmas and awaited the year 2015, a year of destiny, these were some of the reflections I pondered in my heart.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 23:45:51 +0000
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