O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.
O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.
You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield.
The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the LORD,
Both small and great. May the LORD give you increase more and more,
You and your children. May you be blessed by the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
Psalms 115:9-15 NKJV
My last five months have been both trying and exciting. It was trying in the sense that my wife and I had to travel to Nigeria when flights resumed. We met the first shock upon realizing that apart from the cost being up by about 250%, there were fewer flights available. This got coupled with the cost of COVID-19 tests everywhere.
On arrival in Nigeria, I realized that all pending projects to be executed at the time all came to a standstill. Everything was upside down. No projects to be executed, daily expenses increasing and the pressure could only best be imagined.
It was at this time that I had to remind myself of my months of divine provision and its impact. I quickly recoiled to the comfort of my submission to God’s provision that I enjoyed before the trip. Most times, we have some plans that seem to be fully laid and worked out that we forget that it could go all wrong. Only God’s provision never finishes. Never.
It was after this that things took a different turn. I could better evaluate the situation, plug in to divine providence and had good days once again. Despite my planned activities not being possible, our needs were adequately met with little or no stress at all. We had an enjoyable stay with family and friends not to mention a return that was far better than we expected.
Many times we are reminded in the Scriptures of God’s divine resources that we have at our disposal. Unfortunately, our being human with mortal bodies, we tend to be carried away and troubled by our carnal wisdom. We are so easily prone to trust in the things that we can grab hold of. All the while, there is available to us the resources and help of the immortal, invisible, the Only Wise God. We are reminded in the verses of the Psalms above of the wonderful truth that two of the divine resources that we have available to us in Christ are His help, and His shield.
Another Psalm tells us that the help of God is a very present help. In other words, His help is wherever you are and whenever you need it. His shield is referred to in Genesis 15:1 “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.” The Lord Himself is our shield. The armour of God identifies this shield as being a shield of faith. How nice would it be if we would remember to tap into these divine resources as our day unfolds? Oh that God’s Spirit would quicken us to tap into these divine resources throughout the day.
There is no doubt, God knows that we need His resources to cope with the complex decisions that we need to make daily. He knows that it is only through faith in Him that we can have peace during times of life’s surprises and unexpected events. Dear readers, let’s make it a holy habit to prayerfully make God and His resources our first response to the affairs of our life and days. The Lord Jesus is our help and our shield. Seek no other, and look to no other.
God does not expect us to complete our divinely-given assignment by our human resources. Every vision that God gives us is bigger than us, and we cannot run a God-given vision based on our personal plans neither can we finance it with our savings. Many people stop pursuing their God-given visions because they try to sponsor them by themselves only to find out that they cannot. Looking into the scriptures, we see that everyone who fulfilled a God-given mandate had to depend on someone or something other than themselves.
To properly depend on God for your resources, we must:
1. Know that there is a reality of divine resources.
2.realise that divine resources differ from natural resources and that the extent of their effects also differs.
3. Learn to connect and stay connected to divine resources
Indeed, there is a reality of God meeting our needs at all times. Consider these examples from the scripture:
1. Protection for Rahab (Joshua 2)
2. Provision of food for Elijah (1kings 17)
3. Supply of men for David (1Chronicles12)
4. Sustenance for the Israelites (Nehemiah 9:21)
5. Favour for Esther. The force of favour was the divine resource for Esther. She received favour, not just in the sight of the king, but in the sight of all (Esther 2:15)
6. Ruth had the resource of generational linkage. God gave her the understanding of generational linkages
7. For Abraham, it was covenant establishment
8. Isaac also received covenant establishment and increase in time of famine (Genesis 26)
9. The widow of the prophet servant had her debt paid off (2kings 4). Notice in the story that the oil did not finish, it stopped. There is a big difference.
What we have is not as important as the understanding we have of who we are in redemption and who God is, and what He is capable to do for us. God does not give physical cash; He gives us great and precious promises. It now becomes our responsibility to learn to convert promises to tangible things. What God gives us is in its seed form, it is up to us to make it into whatever we want. The word of God/His promises are seeds. Use the word of His promise to get what you need in tangible form.
Remember that divine supply does not stop. When it seems it has stopped, we need to ask the Lord and He will show us the next source. Divine supply does not always come in the form or through the channel we require or expect, so have an open mind before God so as not to miss the divine supply. And this is where the word of God comes in, as a major way to tap into divine resources. When there is a need, understand what God is saying concerning the matter and what He had already said. Balance the written word with what God is saying at present.
Our faith is the connector in the spirit. By faith, so many things happen for us. We cannot receive from God without faith. When it seems all has stopped, faith says that things are still available. Connect to a source that never finishes.
I have been thinking a great deal about my experience at Reconciliation this past Saturday. I felt an intense and unexplainable urge to go and confess my sins when I woke up that morning. I try to go every six weeks or so, but this was no routine visit to the priest for me. I needed to unburden myself of the numerous venial sins I had committed since I last participated in this Sacrament.
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Picking up my pen to write this column, I couldn’t imagine how time flies. Since the last publication of this column I have gone through a lot, especially the loss of my dear mother to whom I dedicate this article. Not only her, but seems I lost a whole generation of my close family.
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Friends, we come now to the Second Sunday of Lent, and we’re on both dangerous and very holy ground with the first reading from the twenty-second chapter of Genesis. The ancient Israelites referred to it as the “Akedah,” which means the “binding”: Abraham binds and is ready to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command.
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