“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”
That was God soliloquizing in Genesis 18:17. He was set to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot, Abraham’s nephew was in Sodom, the city of sin, where all males, were gay!. Gen. 19:4-5, speak of them thus, “Now before they (Lot’s visitors who were actually angels) lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”
Abraham didn’t ask God where He was going and his mission, when he entertained Him alongside the angles who ended up destroying Sodom, but God felt He owed it to His prophet. In Gen. 20:7, God referred to Abraham as a prophet.
Apart from mentioning His mission to the cursed land, God even gave this prophet of His, the opportunity of talking Him out of destroying the two cities, (See Gen. 18:23-32), and that window of opportunity at least, saved Lot and his daughters.
The God/Abraham encounter above, proves that God does speak to certain persons about His intentions for a people, city, country or even the entire human race. It is also clear from the Genesis 20 encounter with Abimelech, King of Gerar that only God can pin-point His prophets. It is equally very likely that until God mentioned it to the king who had in error, seized Sarah for himself, Abraham didn’t even know, he was called to be a prophet among many other things. All these mean that the fact that a man calls himself a prophet, doesn’t make him one and that a man may be a prophet in God’s calculation, without him, knowing. So, when God speaks to those in this latter category, possibly through dreams, visions and direct revelations, He is treating them like Abraham and without doubt, He has spoken to a few about this election cycle and the unfolding drama. Some have gone public, because they felt they should talk about what God is saying. Some truly heard, but went public for self aggrandizement. To correct them, God can deliberately alter the course of events, to put pressure on the prophets, as a way of using the opprobrium from the very critical public, to tame their pride. Then there are those who heard God like Abraham and acted like the patriarch of faith, by interceding on behalf of the country, her people and most importantly, the political class, without breathing a word of the revelation to anyone. They seek neither the validation of men or the vain-glory of being credited with bull-eye predictions.
In this election cycle, clergymen who predicted someone else and not Bola Tinubu of APC as the winner of the presidential contest, have taken a lot of hit and heat. Of course, charlatanism would be a perfect fit for their kind. But when it is about things of the Spirit, the discerning will tarry.
God expressly told Jonah, Nineveh was toast. The man didn’t want to run the difficult errand and ended up in whale’s belly, for three days and three nights. Finally, he agreed to say what God asked him to and Jonah 3:4 records him as proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown” for a whole day.
Nineveh repented and God changed His plan concerning the city. Jonah was implacable and was ready to tango with God and die, simply because the change in God’s plan, made him look incredulous.
Some men of God are likely red in the face now, because the winning candidate in their visions, is among those whining about the outcome now. Winners don’t whin, and it would not be because God didn’t speak to them, it would be because unlike Abraham and like Jonah, they just took the message without asking further questions about Why, How, When and if God is open to altering His plan.
Abraham had better understanding. He patiently listened to God, then began a negotiation, which Jonah didn’t do. I guess mortified clergymen of the moment, were too excited to ask further questions because the name or person they saw in their visions, simply tallied with their desire. Many genuine men of God can fall into that error, especially if they had been seeking God’s face that the answer should be their own choice.
In Jesse’s house, Samuel, perhaps the greatest prophet in Israel, almost made his choice for the throne, Eliab, God’s choice, declaring, “surely before the Lord is His anointed” in 1 Samuel 16. By human calculations, it should be the first born; the natural leader, who is considered the one with the best and requisite resume. But he wasn’t, before God. The divine choice was the boy in the wilderness, chasing after rabbits, watching over family’s flock (even as the last born) and singing hymns. The Bible says, “so he (Prophet Samuel) sent for him (David) and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “rise and anoint him, this is the one.”
There are also instances that God can allow the will of men to torpedo His will. 1 Samuel 8:4-7 confirms this. Elders of Israel had insisted that Samuel should give them a king to lead the country because they didn’t want Joel and Abiah, his sons.
“But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Harken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them” (NKJV).
That is the fallacy of Voice Populi, Voice Dei (the voice of the people is the voice of God). Especially a majority that do not want God to guide their choice. Yet, this won’t vitiate the scripture in Daniel 2 that God makes kings and dethrones them, because even when He allows men to have their way, He still retains the final say. Psalm 115:3 says God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” So it isn’t about what pleases man per se, even when He permits the will of men. But the biggest danger of permissible will of God, is that only mercy can rescue such a nation or people or individuals from the awaiting dangers, when they decide to go it all alone, without God.
So, at which point is Nigeria now after a presidential election so disputed, practically no one, including the victors, is celebrating what should be a momentous occasion? Maybe, those who should ordinarily celebrate are thinking eight years back when the celebration was almost hideous, with sane fellows, doing insane stuffs like jumping inside shallow sewage and downing considerable quantity of waste. Today, those characters would cherish an opportunity to take back those insanity-fueled moments and live them differently, considering the abject misery the victory so wildly celebrated, has brought them. Once bitten, twice shy, they say.
At this point, it is difficult to say whether the elections are producing God’s original Will or His permissible will. But certainly, He has been in charge up till this moment, because the breath keeping everyone up, is His. But He is certainly not God of confusion and doesn’t multiply grace in sustained grievous egregious sin. God is also very clear that the wages of sin, is dead, with the physical, being the least of the deaths that sin, can bring about.
Then the clincher from Jesus in Matthew 7:18, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
He that hath an ear , let him hear what the Spirit saith (Rev. 2:7).
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