By Bishop Kortu K. Brown
Liberia has remained a prayer point – and exactly for the same reasons year after year, and decade after decade. Underdevelopment, poor healthcare delivery system, poor sanitation, challenged educational support, heightened poverty, growing hunger, huge disunity, failed political promises, insecurity, etc. Then there’s also the challenge with how to address those daring concerns. Successive elected governments have not been able to break the country out of the serious cycle of challenges it’s faced. The “progressives” of the 1950s contended about the poor governance of the country. Some didn’t do much to amend the system significantly when they were offered public preferences. Inspired by their predecessors of the 1950s, the “progressives” of the 1970s challenged the status quo and took credit for its downfall. The government collapsed but the same system of patronage, misrule, lack of accountability, bigotry, etc., were sustained.
As always, each regime has had its brand of people who refused to see things for what they are in order to champion a national transformation program for the betterment of the country. They’ll call out people who point to the weakness in the system. They’ll threaten them. Call them names. Falsely accused them. Even marginalize or ignore and excuse them – of State affairs, as a way of securing their consent without protest. But what’s wrong with pointing out the challenges we face as a nation and a people? What’s wrong with alerting the government of challenges ahead and the need to make amends? That should be a patriotic duty. [It was George W. Bush while serving as 43rd of the United States of America, 2002-2009, who said that the greatest gift a citizen can give to his elected leaders is to pray for them. A prayer is a wish, a desire]. It should be embraced. Unfortunately such advocacies are only welcome when people are in “opposition”. They see the weaknesses. They know how to address them. They’ll befriend civil society, relevant stakeholders and praise their laudable efforts. However, when they assume power, the reality begins to set in.
As a consequence, many times it’s challenging to be positive about the country due to the concerning behavior of many of our leaders and compatriots. They know all the right things to say but the will to do, is their challenge. And sometimes when they’re confronted they assume arrogance and resentment. They find excuses and fight back. Nevertheless, because of the Hand of God on the Country and the resilience of the people, I remain hopeful for the following reasons:
- God resists the pride and will bring them low at the appropriate time:
A lot of leaders are ignorant of God’s word and His workings. In Ezekiel Chapter 27, God, about 2600 years ago, was forced to resist the City of Tyrus and bring its Glory and Glamour to ruins because of pride that overtook them. Their maritime program was superb. It made their enterprise great. Their trade prospered and pride, a sense of no ordinary self-importance, I mean, overtook them. Little did they know that the Great Judge was watching, and also, angry. 15 years later after the prophecy was given, Tyrus got destroyed. The city thought it was impossible. However, God did it to teach the rest of us, a lesson: “That God resists the pride but gives grace to the humble”. In Daniel Chapter 5 verses 20 and 21, when Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall, he reminded King Belshazzar how God dealt with his predecessor, Nebuchadnezzar when his heart was lifted up in pride, saying, “But Nebuchadnezzar became proud and stubborn, so his power was taken away from him. He was taken off his royal throne and stripped of his glory. Then Nebuchadnezzar was forced to go away from people. His mind became like the mind of an animal. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox. He became wet with dew. These things happened to him until he learned his lesson. He learned that God Most High rules over human kingdoms, and he gives them to whoever he wants”.
- There’s nothing too hard for the Lord:
About 800 years after the Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Messiah was born. Before He was born, John the Baptist reechoed the prophecy [of Isaiah Chapter 40 verse 3 about the need to prepare the way of the Lord, to make His path right. Without them readying their hearts to receive the Messiah, they wouldn’t see the kind of transformation they desired. John the Baptist in the Gospel book of St. Luke Chapter 3 verses 4 and 5 liken the heart’s conditions to valleys, mountains and hills, crooked and rough places. God wanted those conditions addressed. God’s power is limitless; however, our unpreparedness – to let go of the pass – delays our transformational desires. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it…?” [Jeremiah 17:9-10]. God is able to help us transform our country but our hearts are far away from him. That’s why we are not sincere to one another. We lie, steal, cheat, undermine, deceive, destroy and murder with the mind that we will make it. And when it doesn’t happen, we blame God. We blame one another. But there’s nothing too hard for the Lord. There’s still “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” [St. Matthew 3:3]. The agenda for the transformation of the nation is “Repentance”, a total turn-around from the actions of the past.
- God can remove any unjust or discriminatory laws standing between us and our future:
In the Book of Numbers Chapter 27, the Bible relates a story of 5 girls born to a biblical figure, Zelophehad who did not give birth to a male child before his death. Unfortunately the existing laws prevented the girls from acquiring their father’s properties: “The daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, belonged to the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah. They came forward and stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among Korah’s followers, who banded together against the LORD, but he died for his own sin and left no sons. Why should our father’s name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s relatives.” [Numbers 27:1-4]. These girls feeling perplexed and not wanting their father’s name to be blocked out of Israel’s story approached Moses who also brought their petition to God. The girls won the case. God told Moses that they were right. He should listen to them and protect their father’s name in Israel. God expects us to stand up to unjust laws that prevent that prevent us for making the kind of progress we want to make. Without such audacity, it’s difficult to build a new nation. If God prove those girls’ rights, He can also uphold our rights
- Salvation is of the Lord:
There are situations confronting us that seem irredeemable. So was the case of the prophet Jonah about 2800 years ago. The ruling empire, Assyria got wicked and invited God’s anger. He asked the prophet Jonah to go to the Assyrian capital, Nineveh and cry against it because their wickedness had gone up to heaven (Jonah 1:2). Instead of sailing East to what would be northern Irag today, Jonah took a ship to Tarshish, Spain, right above the Continent of Africa. Nineveh was a world capital for about 50 years. They reportedly treated their war captives wickedly. Jonah panicked and fled. Enraged by his disobedience, God sent the storm that stalled the sail and led to the prophet being thrown out of the ship into the sea. He was swallowed by a sea monster. In the belly of this giant fish, Jonah prayed and God answered him compelling him to confess that “salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). In Chapter 1 verse 17, the Bible reports that “Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah”. There are Jonah-type situations that we find ourselves in, sometimes, that are orchestrated by God Himself due to our disobedience and stubbornness. To change course will require His intervention. That’s why, as a people and a nation, we must seek his face, to avert our ship from sinking and restore our course.
- God can use even an “Unbeliever” to accomplish His purpose:
Many children of God are unaware of the full power and purpose of God. Because of our limited knowledge of God, we make people believe or think that there are people who are off the “rein-power’ of God. In Genesis Chapter 18 verses 14, God asked Abraham and His wife if there was “anything too hard for the Lord”. To get Israel out of Babylon, God used Cyrus the King in Isaiah Chapter 45 to make a release for the return of the Jews and the rebuilding of the Temple. In Ezra Chapter 6, King Darius issued a decree about 200 years later for the Jews to rebuild the Temple out of the king’s treasury. No one is beyond – or above God’s limit whether or not that person knows God personally. God is able to use them to accomplish His purpose. Anyone! The Bible reminds us that the king’s heart is in God’s hands and like the river of waters He turns it whichever way He wants (Proverbs 21:1). Know all this people today that the king’s heart is in God’s hands. He wills it as He will(s)!
Conclusion
Based on the above 5 reasons, I’m hopeful for Liberia – and grateful to God. I know we are within God’s reach: the pride will be resisted and brought low, the unprepared hearts will not experience the transformation they desired, unjust – and discriminatory laws and/or actions in the State that threaten the forward movement of many families will be addressed; in our jam or difficult moments, God will send us help from heaven if we sincerely seek him, and He’ll make people in high and low places to help us accomplish His purpose – and fulfill His word, in our midst, whether or not they serve God. I am therefore not giving up on Liberia. You, too, I implore you: Don’t give up, on your Country. There’s still hope. “With God above our rights to prove, we will overall prevail” To God be the Glory!
