Hosea 12:5, 6

’That is, the LORD God of hosts. The LORD is His memorable name. So you, by the help of your God, return; Observe mercy and justice, and wait on your God continually.’’

 

In every situation in life there are basic rules; tenets; formulae and principles to observe and apply; in every country we visit we always seek to understand the laws; customs; culture and traditions of the locals but rarely do we seek to understand keenly the ‘cultures and traditions’ or of our heavenly Father. If we did we could not struggle so much over nothing because our Father cares for us. We know that God is Supreme in every aspect of our lives but unfortunately we rarely seek to understand or mend the way we relate with Him and when we do, we do it at superficial level, we don’t want to go deep. This reminds of a childhood friend of mine who was a policeman. After I gave my life to Christ and received salvation I decided to visit most of my friends share the goodness of Christ and he happened to be the first on the list but it so happened that when I went to look for him he had been transferred from the station.

 

I met him coincidentally after two years of salvation in the month of August 2003, it was very interesting incident because he saw me first while he was crossing the road to my side of the road and he practically froze in the middle of the road. The hooting of the motorist drew my attention to him; I noticed that he was staring at me mouth agape and I could not understand why. I quickly dashed and grabbed by his hand and pulled him to my side of the road and I noticed that he actually was staring at what I was holding, a Bible. His eyes were totally engrossed with the Bible I was carrying, everybody around us was staring at me and wondering whether I had stolen the Bible or what was so fascinating about it. In a span of one minute and half or may be two he was able to come to his senses and we hugged since we had not met for over five years, the only words coming out of his mouth were ‘‘you, Bible, you; is it real?’’ at first I could not understand him but then I realized that my friend could never imagine nor expect me to be carrying a Bible.

 

I led him to a nearby cafeteria to move away from the milling crowd, his second word was ‘‘tell me this is not true please, that you’re carrying the Bible for somebody else’’ I calmed him over a soda and I explained to him in simple terms that I was now born again and that the Bible indeed belonged to me and not for someone else. He shot the third question was ‘‘what made you change, I mean decide to be born again, do you mean you never drink anymore or is it because of problems that you decided to hide in the church; do you have a job after quitting the air force; are looking for a job; how is you’re your family surviving after leaving the barracks?’’  The questions were fired faster than I could answer them, so I decided to let him ask them all first and then answer the ones I could remember for I had lost track of order in which they had been asked.

 

Calmly as possible I tried to explain to him, first by assuring about my family was doing well, my kids were in a better school and I had a better job, and that I had not received salvation because of life frustrations or problems but out of choice and appreciations for what God had done in my life. I recounted to some of the careless episodes in life that I had been involved (that he knew of) in and by grace of God I had come out of them unscathed. I informed him that this was the best decision I had ever made in my life and that I had earlier tried unsuccessful to locate him three times previously to share the good news with him because he had been transferred from the last station I knew. He was convinced because there was no way I could have known about the transfer unless I had gone to his previous station.

 

When I told about the love of Jesus Christ he was hesitant to accept Him in his life because he reasoned said, ‘‘I am afraid of committing myself because the more I know Him the more temptations will come my way; the lesser I know the lesser the temptations and besides who will continue to encourage me?’’ I talked to him for about two hours and we could not agree on the way forward, fortunately his wife (who had been in a salon) joined us in the cafeteria and as we continued talking she agreed to give her life to Christ but the gentleman remained adamant. This was a day of mixed reactions for me, happy about the wife’s decision and sad about him because I really loved him as a brother.

My friend Cyprian made his decision and from that day he kept avoiding me even when I visited them at their house. I would come in and he would excuse himself saying that he was going on duty somewhere in plain clothes. He died of HIV/AIDS complications three and half years later October 2007.  I have brought this story because of the way brethren carry their salvation as a burden and yet they are only supposed to believe that their Savior is able to carry them through the tough times, anxieties, worries and all sorts of situations that they encounter in this journey of salvation.

 

When we understand the One who called us into salvation then we need to relax and wait upon the Lord. Our Salvation is not from man but from God right from the beginning, when Adam sinned he hid himself and made fig leaves clothing to cover his nakedness;

Question: how long could such clothes last?

Answer: a few hours or a day at most.

God chased them away from the Garden of Eden but not before He did two things; one, He pronounced judgment on satan and He clearly indicated who would conquer him, Genesis 3:15. Jesus Christ is the only person ever born on the face of the earth without involvement of man, Luke 1:34: ‘‘Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” Two, He clothed them with more suitable clothing (animal skins) Genesis 3: 21 ‘‘Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.’’

 

Through the scripture we have seen that man’s effort or struggle is non existent, God is doing everything for them. Therefore we too should learn to let God take control of our lives and stop worrying and fretting for He knows that our ability is negligible compared to His awesome power and might. Imagine letting power work for you, how easy would life be for you, challenges will be there, fellow human beings will disappoint you, relatives disown but God will never forget you. He can fight your battles for you; He can supply to all your needs in His riches and glory; just don’t lean on your own understanding, or your own feelings just let the Word God guide you continuously and your salvation shall be established. No human efforts please! This is about God and not you or me.

 

This devotional is written by Pastor Joseph Koburu Mukiira of Maximum Victory Centre Nairobi Kenya and reaching you courtesy of Journey to Joy Ministries International Inc. USA.