Let’s go a different route from our beleaguered country this week. Why should we be clobbered by happenstances in the political and religious spheres? Why should we burn whether the fourth becomes the first or Mbaka heard from God or an unfamiliar spirit? So what if Oga Tanko Mohammed and his team are truly not adept in arithmetic? I am not too, and so are many of us. Has the deficiency put food on our table or stolen our plate of jollof rice?
And, lest I forget, there is a new prophet in town; his calling is raising the dead. I heard that he has challenged the babalawos to a duel at the national stadium. He wants two corpses (only two?) and whoever raises either corpse would be deemed as serving the true God.
This is quite interesting except that Mount Carmel where Elijah worsted the prophets of Baal seems too far away from Nigeria. Moreover, something tells me that this challenge may be for self-exaltation, rather than establish who the true God is. I would rather the morticians and mortuary attendants allow him access to their freezers to deploy his anointing to our greater good.
If Nigeria is blessed with such a man, why should we bother about Amotekun, legal or not? We should allow the Fulani herdsmen free rein to kill as many Yoruba (Southerners) as they would and then let our prophet the needful. Even Fashola’s premature grey hair would return to its natural black lustre because the carnage on our crater-ridden highways would become meaningless, as our prophet would easily sew back the mangled flesh and bones.
Oh, I have digressed from my topic. I want to talk about the beautiful rainbow but it is difficult to avoid being distracted in our land of oddities.
The rainbow is a very beautiful sight in the sky. There is really nothing as attractive as it. It usually appears after heavy downpour. Science sees it, as the result of sun rays reflecting over particles of water in the sky. The rainbow is associated with relief, hope and peace.
Its history dates back to Genesis 9:12-17. Whenever the rainbow appears, it evokes undeniable emotions of hope, promise and renewal after crisis. In the Genesis report, a rainbow appeared immediately after the great worldwide flood that destroyed all life, sparing only Noah’s family and some animals. Thereafter, God vowed never to destroy the world with flood anymore. So, he brought the rainbow to symbolise God’s mercy and the covenant He made with mankind. Therefore, the rainbow denotes divine faithfulness and a sign of God’s covenant.
There is no doubt that we live in troubled and troubling times, where it is virtually impossible to live right. Everywhere is polluted, including even the church and mosque, supposedly hallowed grounds where one would ordinarily run for refuge. The home has become another lair of the devil. Husbands now use their wives for ritual and vice versa. Parents also do the same with their children and vice versa. They also pretend not to see when their daughters go about prostituting and bringing home dirty wealth. They have even formed Yahoo Boys Moms and Dads Association of Nigeria.
The female child has become endangered and can no longer be trusted in the care of their make relations because of the likelihood of them getting defiled. The airwaves reel out abominable occurrences and work so hard to convince us to imbibe lifestyles abhorrent lifestyles. Today, youths are quarantined in houses of sin and paid to indulge in all manner of debauchery in the name of reality shows and yet society sits back to enjoy the sordid episode and even celebrate the winners. These are indeed ominous clouds, hovering over our society today. But one can choose to be a rainbow in such a cloud.
To be a rainbow in the cloud is to decide to be different. You can choose to behave differently in that office where you work and refuse to doctor figures to embezzle company funds. You can choose to contest in an election without compromising standards to win. You can choose to work hard and trust God to prosper your little efforts instead of joining the occult world.
Actually, there are examples to inspire you. The bible is replete with men and women, who stood out. Abraham was known as the father of faith. He heeded the call of God to leave his heathen background for an unknown country. Today, everybody is laying claim to Abraham’s blessings but how many want to heed the call to leave a lifestyle of sin and rebellion against God?
John the Baptist was so exceptional Jesus testified that among men born of women, there was none greater than John (Matt 11:11). Yet he lived in a very ungodly society.
Daniel and his three Hebrew friends, who were captives in Babylon, refused to eat the king’s meal while others did. Yet they appeared better nourished. Daniel defied ungodly orders not to pray and was thrown into the lions’ den. However, the Lord shut the mouth of lions and they could not harm him (Daniel 6).
It is not all about men. talk about Deborah, was a woman but she judged Israel for 60 years, as yet another rainbow in the cloud of her time (Judges 4-5). She was so outstanding men refused to go to warfront unless she led them.
A striking contemporary rainbow in the cloud is Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani lady, who dared the Taliban terrorists. She survived assassination attack, also won the Nobel Prize and is today an international voice for the girl-child.
You can refuse to be put down by circumstances of life and the ugliness of the society we live in. Life is full of challenges. Nobody who puts his trust in God fails. Unfortunately, however, we allow the magnitude of our challenges to dwarf the bigness of our God.
Joseph trusted God righteously even after he had been sold into slavery by his envious brothers. An Egyptian official bought him but the man’s lecherous wife sought to seduce the innocent young man, according to the Genesis 39:1–20. Many of us would have jumped at that sumptuous offer but Joseph rightly saw it as a beautifully masked wasp, lurking to lurking and blight his destiny; he refused to sin against God. Consequently he was framed and falsely accused of attempted rape. He endured agonising years in prison but ultimately, God showed up in his matter. He did not only vindicate but also God put him on the throne of Egypt without the Yakubu Mohammeds superintending any spurious election.
Regardless of the very difficult times we live in, one can, at great risk and discomfort, still shine like colourful rainbow in the midst of this gloomy cloud; it is a risk worth taking.
So, what is limiting you from being a rainbow in the cloud, from being different, from excelling where others failed? Maybe intimidation and fear? Fear has a way of blurring one’s vision. It would only show you the side of failure and leave your brain stunted and unreceptive to viable options hence you refuse to venture out lest you fail. Well, you really need to take that risk. When you are confronted by the likelihood of failure, confront it with the likelihood of success.
That was what David did. Despite his age and inexperience, he believed in the omnipotence of God and went for the head of Goliath in the name of the Lord. He did not only kill the giant of Gath, he also saved his people from slavery (I Samuel 17).
So, let nothing limit you this New Year; dare to be different even in our compromised world. You can be a rainbow in the cloud.