Mercy Speaks: That List of Accusations With Your Name On It

The book of Zechariah in the Bible is a very interesting one. The lessons from that story can almost be interpreted in so many ways but without loosing the core message. Not that it should be read in isolation to the other chapters but it captures so well God’s promise and restoration for Jerusalem. A promise, each and everyone of us can tap into for our present time.

Our focus today is on Zechariah Chapter 3 and how it expressly shows us grace and mercy in action.

Now, the chapter begins with prophet Zechariah explaining to us what he saw during the cleansing of the High Priest:

3: Then the angel showed me Jeshua[a] the high priest standing before the angel of theLord. The Accuser, Satan,[b] was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jeshua. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.”

During the cleansing of the Priest Jeshua, the devil also came with his list of accusations. By all means he wanted to disqualify Jeshua from getting a fresh start with God. By all means, those accusations might have been right. As we see in verse 3:

3 Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel.

A High Priest with a filthy robe. Nothing is hidden from God. He sees all our imperfections and our struggles. The devil is always quick to pick out our filthiness. We don't have the full details of why the clothing of the priest was filthy but keep in mind that all have sinned and come short of God's glory. Even when we think we stand, we all have to be careful or else we fall. Our righteousness before God is like a filthy rag, the Bible says. It is never by our works of righteousness. Okay- enough of my babbling.

“Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel.” By normal standard, he did not deserve to even be standing there. The devil did not miss his chance to point that out. But mercy said no! The Lord rebuked the devil and granted Jeshua mercy.

4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine
new clothes.”5 Then I said, “They should also place a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean priestly turban on his head and dressed him in new clothes while the angel of the Lord stood by.

Jeshua got a fresh start. He was cleansed. Renewed. But it did not end there. Jeshua must also commit and not return to the old ways. We are not to abuse God's mercy and grace. We must agree to walk carefully and follow God's ways. Here is how the Angel puts it to Jeshua the Priest:

6 Then the angel of the Lord spoke very solemnly to Jeshua and said, 7 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: If you follow my ways and carefully serve me, then you will be given authority over my Temple and its courtyards. I will let you walk among these others standing here.
8 “Listen to me, O Jeshua the high priest, and all you other priests. You are symbols of things to come. Soon I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 Now look at the jewel I have set before Jeshua, a single stone with seven facets.[c] I will engrave an inscription on it, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and I will remove the sins of this land in a single day.
10 “And on that day, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, each of you will invite your neighbor to sit with you peacefully under your own grapevine and fig tree.”

Like Jeshua, God is extending His mercy to us everyday. Do not let the list of accusations the devil is holding against you hold you down. We have all sinned. We are too much of a sinner to even knock on Heaven’s gate. Fear, pain, shame, greed, death, barrenness, failure and other baggage from the devil are hovering, waiting for permission to knock us out.

But mercy is saying no. 

Get up and embrace mercy! God is a God of a second, third chance and ever new chance! God's thoughts towards us are thoughts of good and not of evil. God wants to give us hope and a future. But we cannot enjoy these promises in its fulness if we continue to walk in the flesh and gravitate towards the pleasure of sin. We must take that bold step, fall before God's altar and surrender it all to Him and let His precious blood wash us and set of free from the grip of sin and death.

It does not matter how low we have fallen, what we have done with our past. Mercy still speaks. Yesterday ended last night. Today, lets choose to embrace mercy and choose to follow God. It is not by force or by strength, but God’s grace is ever sufficient for us!

We might stumble tomorrow but may God's mercy and grace never let us fail to return home. 

We are a symbol of things to come (Zech 3:8).

God's mercy still speaks. Listen up, embrace it and spread the word! 

The Proverbs 31 man we forget to talk about :-)

I read Proverbs 31, again. But this time I read it with a fresh understanding, like I saw new lines I did not see there before :-).

First and foremost, these were the words of King Lemuel of Massa, "strong advice his mother gave him..." It began with:

"Oh, son of mine, what can you be thinking of!
    Child whom I bore! The son I dedicated to God!
Don't dissipate your virility on fortune-hunting women,
    promiscuous women who shipwreck leaders.

Reading further he went on to buttress the importance of speaking out for justice and not allowing too much wine ruin one's leadership ability. And then, we are directed to the famous CV of a virtuous woman. Line after line, we are told what the portrait of a virtuous woman looks like or should be. 

Many young women, like myself, have feasted so much on this portion of the Bible. Aspiring to be a "capable, intelligent, and virtuous woman—" (Proverbs 31:10) for the man we'll treat like a king.

But guess what? It takes a man of Proverbs 31:2-9 and 23 to find a woman of Proverbs 31:10-31.

It is a union of partnership. 

If you notice, the portrait of the virtuous woman was punctuated with a reminder in Proverbs 31:23-

Her husband is known in the [city's] gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.

This means, the virtuous woman is not married to a man who sits all week watching SuperSports and debating about Arsenal and Manchester like it is what will pay the children's school fees :-) The man also knows not to waste his strength on promiscuity or those things which ruin kings (Proverbs 31:2).

That whole chapter can as well be titled, "Portrait of a virtuous couple that honor God." As it speaks to the man, so does it speak to the woman. Seriously, this is not an impossible standard to attain or what do you think? 

So we must not just limit the teachings to women alone. Emphatically pointing out how women should model the woman of Proverbs 31. Men can also be that king who chooses to be responsible. 

Take a fresh look at Proverbs 31 again and let the Holy Spirit grant you a clear understanding.  

Enjoy your weekend!

Proverbs 31 (BibleGateway.com)

King James Version (KJV)

31 The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.

² What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?
³ Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.
⁴ It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:
⁵ Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
⁶ Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
⁷ Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
⁸ Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.
⁹ Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
¹⁰ Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
¹¹ The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
¹² She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
¹³ She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
¹⁴ She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
¹⁵ She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
¹⁶ She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
¹⁷ She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
¹⁸ She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
¹⁹ She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
²⁰ She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.
²¹ She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
²² She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
²³ Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
²⁴ She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
²⁵ Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.
²⁶ She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
²⁷ She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
²⁸ Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
²⁹ Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
³⁰ Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
³¹ Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.

May Nigeria not become beyond redemption

"'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because some say to you, "You devour people and deprive your nation of its children," therefore you will no longer devour people or make your nation childless, declares the
Sovereign LORD. No longer will I make you hear the taunts of the nations, and no longer will you suffer the scorn of the peoples or
cause your nation to fall, declares the Sovereign LORD.'"

Ezekiel 36:13-15 New International Version (NIV)
Via www.Biblegateway.com

Happy New Year!! God is our helper!!

Thankful!

"Don't be afraid to shut a door when that season has ended- God already has a better one opened for you!" Paula White.

Alright! 2012 is not ended yet... but I remember one of the goals I set to achieve this year was to have fun, I think!! How did that go? Did I really just relax, as I aimed to? Well, it has been a mix of working harder and playing hard :-) I totally love how the year started- with a big challenge of learning to close some doors and just say a blunt NO to many things. Yup, it was hard, but also a good skill to learn. Sometimes, saying no is not as easy as its spelling- even when it is the right thing to do. Anyway, looking back, it has been an interesting year of growing and learning. I caught myself complaining once in a while....but all the stress, I'm thankful for.

More of it come 2013! 

God have been gracious to me, family and friends- and colleagues at work. 

Talking about work... with all the challenges they brought o.... seriously...I'm thankful to and for everyone who gave me an opportunity to learn by doing- CP-Africa.com gave me the space to practice leadership and explore Africa. Dis Generation column in the Nation newspaper gave me a platform to speak up for youth development. UNAIDS' CrowdOutAIDS.org opened up a unique global opportunity to lead by serving. Ventures-Africa.com taught me how exciting it is to build from scratch, focus, work hard and be paid for what you do. My Oga there was very finicky about little errors so I did learn to embrace an excellent work culture too. Aside the above mentioned, there were a lot of other opportunities here and there.... But I pitched my tent at GPI, yup the work-culture has won me over.

So I think I'm going to stick to GPI globalpressinstitute.org for a long time :-) I love my boss and colleagues. The work culture rocks! And yes, it is DEVELOPMENT JOURNALISM! I've learned a lot these past months and definitely look forward to learning more and be productive! It is not going to be easy... but is anything easy these days?

I hope this post does not sound too good to be true. I mean, it has not been all rosy. I failed here and there. Was financially broke. Disappointed some people. Fell ill. I face the usual challenge people face. But in all of it, I think I'm still very well excited and alive!

On education and the rest of us, I did finish strong at NIJ. Combining full time education with full time job is a hard nut to crack :-) But I survived, by God's grace. One of the price I paid was becoming very anti-social for a while... but that is changing now- hopefully. It is very important to just relax- eat well, love deeply and pray fervently.

I lost a very dear friend this year. I was shocked. Devastated. Angry. Discouraged. And became afraid. 

But in all of it, I found comfort in God's word- the same words of comfort in three places- Psalm 42:5, Psalm 42:11, Psalm 43:5:

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
    Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
    soon I'll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
    He's my God.

(Psalm 42:5,11 Psalm 43:5.)

God is not a secret to be kept.

The year 2012 is not ended yet, but I'm thankful to everyone who has impacted my life, directly and indirectly. With all its challenges, we still have more than a thousand reasons to PRAISE GOD! Don't let the devil steal your joy. As I read on a friend's facebook update recently, "Think back on what God has done for you and praise Him in a new way."

No matter how broke or broken we are, there is always a reason to PRAISE God! Don't settle for being down in the dumps! Arise, yes arise and let God's glory shine through you! His love is not a secret to be kept.

Year 2013, the year of more LOVE. And, yes love is a verb. I've learned the hard way.

#Poetry

This poem is dedicated to my friend and cousin, Ogunyemi Bankole Taiwo taiwobankole.com. I praise God that you lived! Thank you for being a part of my life... thank you for giving so much of yourself to everyone you met and for always being willing to help. Thank you for trusting God and always acknowledging Him. Until we meet again, rest in God, for in God is peace!

Lets be the happiest friends
The world could ever have
So that even time itself would remember
Those playmates who never gave her rest.
Lets whisper and shout now that we can
Before our voices are blown into silence.
Lets cry and laugh as hard as we can
For come tomorrow we may have no chance.
Lets give all the help we can
To those who need it now.
Time, time is running very fast,
We have no idea who next will part.
Lets be the happiest friends
The world would ever love to have
And before we part each day,
Lets remember to say goodbye,
For it may be our last to see.

(c)Jennifer Ehidiamen, culled from “In Days to Come,” page 23

Build Your Throne Here Too

I might fail many times Lord,
But do not let me fail to follow your word.

Be a towering rock of safety
and hide me under Your shadow.
It is only in your presence that I find my essence.

May my lifestyle not be all creed
without substance or seed.
Excite me with Your Holiness, Lord,
ignite my passion to pant after Your Word.

(c) Jennifer Ehidiamen. Preserve my saltiness, page 73.

Ham-nature? Dealing with a naked father?

We all go through trails and temptations. Most times, we are not in anyway responsible for what happen to us or what happen around us. But we are responsible for how we respond to the situation.

A few years ago I heard a powerful message, which was taken from the book of Genisis 9 (I can't remember what Church I heard it). I'll like to share what I took out of it.

We are most familiar with the story of Noah, the man who built the ark and help repopulate the earth after the flood receded.

In Genesis 6, we are told about a world gone wrong. "The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil." This broke God's heart. We are told God was going to wipe all the human race from the earth... but Noah found favor with God.

"...Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time and he walked in close fellowship with God." Gen 6:9. Wow! at his CV! Impeccable!

The account goes on to narrate how God had a heart-to-heart talk with Noah and instructed him to build a large boat (an ark). When God sent flood to cover the earth Noah, his family and a pair of every animal he selected into the Ark were spared.

After 150 days, five months from the time the flood began, it receded. But the flood did not dry up immediately. It took some additional 12months plus. Then God instructed Noah to leave the boat, along with all others so that they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth (Gen 8:15-17).

God kept His covenant with Noah. He blessed him and his sons (Genesis 9:1-3). So they all started life afresh! :-)

"After the flood, Noah began to cultivate the ground, and he planted a vineyard." Yeah he did not sit on his hands waiting for manna to fall from heaven. He took the initiative to farm. He worked hard. What can we learn from this?

"One day he (Noah) drank some wine he had made, and he became drunk and lay naked inside his tent." Okay, someone had too much wine.

"Ham (one of his 3 sons), the father of Canaan, saw that his father was naked and went outside and told his brothers." Sometimes we do this right? We see something and our first reaction is to tell someone. We play amebor. We gossip about it. Easier to do abi?

"Then Shem and Japheth (Noah's other sons) took a robe, held it over their shouders and backed into the tent to cover their father. As they did this they looked the other way so they would not see him naked." (Genesis 9:20-23).

Why did Ham not just do this? Why did he spread the news and humiliate his father when he could have just as well covered his nakedness?

Many of us like Ham have had the privilege of entering our father's tents. We know where he keeps everything, how he lays to rest or rise at dawn. When Ham saw his father drunk and naked that day, he could have as well covered him. Or maybe the shock of seeing a righteous man in a state of stupor was too much to let him think rationally. So he did what we most often do these days- he went and announced the news to his brothers. But those ones took a different, wiser approach. They covered their father up and looked the other way while they did so.

We are told in the rest of the Chapter that Noah woke up and heard what happened. He blessed Shem and Japheth. He cursed Canaan,the son of Ham. Yeah, when I read this portion of my Bible, I was like "why curse Canaan for his father's offence?"

This Ham-nature still exist today. Many of us are quick to react like Ham when we find great men at their weakest point. We are quick to whisper, tweet, blog or broadcast the news about our fathers (or those we meet) nakedness to the rest of the world. After basking in the pleasure of humiliating them, we find ourselves in our own stupidity, which extends to our own sons.

We see a christian sister or brother at the wrong spot and we quickly tweet about it. We are the first to start the "have you heard..." tale over the fall of our brethren or those entrusted in our care.

Are you dealing with a similar situation right now? Are you opportune to have access to sensitive information or privileged to know the weak areas of those who others hold in high regard? What are you going to do? Announce it to others? Use it to blackmail? Be judgemetal? or call the person aside and help them overcome it/cover their nakedness?

We must always remember the fall of a man is not the end of his life. Those we see in a state of stupor today will always wake up. God extends his mercy to the weak and vindicates them. So never glory in a fall of any man.

I write this as a reminder to myself. I need to control my big mouth :-). I hope this blogpost blesses you too. We might not be resposible for what happen to us or around us but may God always grant us the wisdom to respond appropriately. May God help us tame the Ham-nature in us. May God be merciful unto us for times we fall short.

Keep growing in faith.

Shalom!