Noah's preparation

How was Noah prepared for the flood? Nothing like that had ever happened before, nothing like it will happen again. A flood covering all the earth: I am going to send a flood on the earth to destroy every living being. Everything on the earth will die Gen 6:17 (GNB).  How could he have been certain of the things he received from God? At the creation of the garden of Eden no rain had come on the earth:for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground-- Gen2:5-6 (ESV)  I believe his experience prepared him. The experience I refer to is his late parenting. Have you ever noted how long it took for Noah to have his children? After Noah was 500 years old, he had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth Gen 5:32(GNB).

This had never happened before. Was it because he married very late? I think not. His grandfather Methuselah was alive before the first man Adam died. (Simply calculating the ages of his ancestry in Genesis 5 will reveal Adam lived for more than 200 years after the birth of Methuselah, but died before Noah was born). It was Noah’s father Lamech that had the longest wait for a son before then in all human existence: 182 years. I can imagine them saying to Noah, “From the time God created man on earth no one of us has reached 200 years without a son.” Would not Methuselah the oldest man that ever lived confirm and say “Yes. I met the very first man Adam. Your own father was yet a baby when he died. In my days I was late in having a son, but this has never happened before. Noah what is the matter?” yet double the previous time passed, and no son to Noah. Eventually After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth Gen 5:32 (ESV). It was after this that God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark…” Gen 6:13-24(ESV).

So when Noah, who preached righteousness 2Pt 2:5(GNB) spoke of the coming flood and mockers would say, “Haba! Noah. A flood to cover the entire world and destroy every one? Nothing like that has ever happened. How can you believe such trash?” he could look at his own experience and be strengthened in faith. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith Heb 11:7(ESV). Definitely the experiences you face who walk blamelessly before God as Noah did in his days are but a preparation for God’s purposes in your life. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God Gen 6:9(ESV). 

The case of Joseph Week 5, 2016

“You say that obedience to parents bring opportunity for greatness. Why is it then that in the case of Joseph his obedience brought him trouble?”

In what way? God’s word is true for all men and all ages. How do you mean?

“So Israel said, "See how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring some news back to me." Then he sent Joseph away from the Hebron Valley Gen 37:14(GW). It was when he obeyed his father’s instruction that he landed in trouble. Now as soon as they saw him approaching from a distance, before he arrived they plotted together to kill him. Then Judah suggested to his brothers, "Where's the profit in just killing our brother and shedding his blood? Come on! Let's sell him to the Ishmaelites!” Gen 37:18, 26-27(ISV). If he didn’t go surely no harm would have befallen him. He would have remained safe.”

When I said obedience brings opportunity I didn’t mean the exact steps are same...

“Ah there you go, I said it. The matter cannot be generalised.”

Of course they can be generalised. The case of Joseph is not different. The steps in the blessing differ but the results are the same. The time of manifestation differs but the end is the same. Saul obeyed his father and was anointed king in a few days; David did same and became a hero overnight. People love instant results and immediate gratification. God does not work that way many a time. What appears to be a setback following obedience is not that. Joseph was sold as a slave but that was his opportunity to have his destiny as saviour of his kindred, indeed saviour of many lives, fulfilled. God sent me ahead of you to rescue you in this amazing way and to make sure that you and your descendants survive Gen 45:7(GNB). There are times we obey God and get wounded. At such times the feeling is “If I had not obeyed would I not have been spared this trouble?” but obey fully like Joseph no matter the consequence. From slavery he went down to the prison unjustly. But if you will walk in obedience like him you will see eventually the hand of God. So it was not really you who sent me here, but God Gen 45:8(GNB).

“What do you mean by obey fully?”

Have you noticed Joseph was sent to Shechem? When Joseph reached Shechem, a man found him wandering around in a field. So the man asked him, "What are you looking for?" Gen 37: 14, 15(ISV). He might have gone back to his father to report he could not see them. He searched and searched until God provided a way to fulfill his father’s request, and God’s divine plan.

“One would have said this was the enemy at work to nail him. Imagine he could have returned safely but for that man…”

What is safety? What is disaster? A person plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps Prov 16:9(ISV). I know that whatever happens to a man in line of sincere obedience to God is always worked out by Him for good.

Obedience brings opportunity Week 4, 2016

There are many scriptures which clearly teach that God leads people through simple obedience to parental authority. When God was to bring David before Israel as the giant slayer how did He go about it? Jesse told his son David, "Take for your brothers this half-bushel of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread and quickly take them to your brothers in the camp..." David got up early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the supplies, and went as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the encampment as the army was going out to the battle line, shouting the battle cry1Sam 17:17, 20(ISV). It was in this errand in obedience to his father that coincidentally he arrives just as Goliath is making his daily boast and taunting Israel’s armies (actually it was no coincidence but God ordained programming). All the while he had been going to Saul but was not revealed to Israel as warrior or deliverer. David would go back and forth from Saul to tend his father's sheep in Bethlehem1Sam 17:15(ISV). It’s not David this started with.

Did you notice this was exactly how obedience to his father’s authority brought opportunity to Saul? This was how God brought him to Samuel in the first place. The donkeys belonging to Kish, Saul's father, were lost, and Kish told his son Saul, "Take one of the young men with you, get up, and go look for the donkeys."1Sam 9:3(ISV).  Saul’s father had servants he could send. Saul also was most likely married by now, yet he obeys and does not “sublet” the instruction to another son or the servants. God was at work. Again this was in no way a coincidence because one day before Saul's arrival, the LORD had revealed to Samuel:  "About this time tomorrow I'll send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you are to anoint him as Commander-in-Chief over my people Israel1Sam 9:15-16(ISV).  That God used the same method again to bring the next king to prominence surely means He will use it again and again.  

Let not the point miss you. Saul and David were men of destiny. Each chosen by God for national assignment; and it pleased God to use simple obedience to a father’s directive to bring them to opportunity for greatness. "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." Eph 6:2, 3  (ESV)

Does this principle apply only to covenant sons? Consider Anah a seed of Sier: Anah discovered the hot springs in the wilderness while grazing his father Zibeon's donkeys Gen 36:24 (ISV).  This is not a chance thing, and that it happened with a man not descended from Abraham, a man outside of the covenant means to me all men can key into it. It is a truth as far as I am concerned; as much as Prov 22:29(KJV)  Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

Encounter with the seer

One certain time, about early 2000, when I served as a house-help (maid) in a chief’s palace I encountered a seer. The chief married at least three wives and I was living with one of the wives in the same big compound, even though each wife lived in their different chambered houses there. A time came when one of the wives invited “a (young) man of God” who came and conducted night vigil with the members of the family. The night vigil was meant to be a family deliverance. But before the man came, I got to know about it from mama, the wife who invited him. Perceiving in my spirit that the “man of God” is not a genuine one, I told her, “I am not sure the man of God is real, it is better for us to seek God by ourselves and we would find Him.” When you call out to me and come and pray to me, I'll hear you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart Jer 29:12-13(ISV). Knowing that I am a Christian and have sometimes called them for family prayers, she rebuked me, may be because I am just a maid.

        When the ‘man of God’ actually came, we gathered for prayers that night. He began conducting, talked about somebody who died recently in the house, that his spirit is not at rest because of his kind of death, a young boy. They told him, “It is true, he died recently.” He also said, “There were animals that were buried alive at the compound sometime ago”, they echoed “Yes!” He said that those things should be excavated and they should show him the place. They did so also. Moreover, when he came back from the place they showed him, he began to pray. A time came when he began to touch everybody with olive oil on the foreheads. I noticed an unusual thing, that whenever he approached a young lady, he would say one thing or the other such as, “Something is hindering your flower, you’re under an attack, it needs to be broken, therefore, you need to come and see me in my ministry for prayers.”He also told me so when he approached me. On my own I did not want to see him for any reason because the spirit of God within me was telling me, “He is not real.” My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers Jn 10:27, 5(ISV). Then I was a young Christian. One day, after the night vigil, I was mandated with one of the young lady living with us to go and see the man of God. Lo, as a servant girl I had no option than to obey. 

 When I reached there were other females waiting and we entered one by one to see him privately. He said I wouldn’t marry and have children but die before my 3oth birthday if I didn’t have special prayers. He noted however I was very uneasy with him and allowed me to leave without any harassment. I stood firm in faith and never went back to him nor had such deliverance done on me. I am over 30 years of age and married with a son, expecting our second baby. I believe God Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son Col 1:13(KJV)                                Chika is a teacher in Enugu