WHEN THERE IS NATIONAL CRISIS 2 Samuel 21:1-9 Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them:and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord? And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you. And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them. But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite: And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord:and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest. Unless you are a stranger in Ghana, you would say there is no famine in the country. We have in our hands a situation that requires all of us to be concern and not to go politicizing matters that affect our very prosperity as citizens. At a time in Israel, they went through three years of severe famine and national economic hardship. The scripture above reveals the process of recovery Israel identified and implemented. I will attempt to bring to light these major steps and I pray that it shall be a blessing to us. 1. David acknowledged there was severe famine on the land. King David as the leader of the nation was honest enough To acknowledge there was a famine of three years on the land. We are talking about honest leadership here. The situation in Ghana may not change if leadership isnt honest with themselves and with the populace. Our leaders must be honest and acknowledge there is something not right with our economy and stop the figures and telling us things that are not true. Example, last week, it was rumored that there was coming another fuel shortage. People in authority came out to debunk and assure us it isnt true. Only for petrol stations to start with their NO FUEL SLOGAN! Leadership must be honest with us to earn our trust because gradually, many have lost trust with politicians due to dishonesty. King David was not like that. He acknowledged there was famine. We need honest leadership and governance. 2. King David enquired of The Lord. Honest leadership will move a leader to enquire into identified problems and issues that call for national concern. David didnt have a clue of the cause of the famine. He didnt jump into conclusion to blame his predecessor or former rulers of tribe or blame it on Absaloms torment of his life but sought to know the exact cause of the economic failure. How did he do that? He went to the right source. A. David consulted God. When God consciousness is taken from leadership, corruption is inevitable! When God consciousness is taken from a leadership, it wont be long the people cant take it any more. Our leaders must consult God again. The fear of God must be restored amongst leadership. B. David consulted the right source. When things are not going as wanted, proper consultations must be done. A leader without potent pillars cant succeed. Who advises the King? Who executes the Kings order? David went to the right source! If Ghana will be restored again, our people in authority must seek help from right sources. 3. It was revealed that Saul had slew the Gibeonites. The cause of the famine was discovered. King Saul had killed a people who Israel had covenanted with not to destroy sometime ago under the leadership of Joshua. King David had to take a quality decision here. A decision was taken some decades of years ago but it wasnt well documented or out of the carelessness of his predecessor the vow was broken and the decision was not implemented. David had all the right to play the blame game. In the first place, he didnt covenant with the Gibeonites and again, he didnt command the killing of the Gibeonites! David recognize the purpose of leadership: @ To lead @ To inspire @ To dream @ To restore @ To cause change @ To solve problems not to compound problems No blame game here. This is what we see in most African leaders and even our own lives as Ghanaians. We love the blame game. Pastors do it! Politicians do it! Everyone in Ghana have one time or more, engaged in this game. King David didnt. May our leaders in Ghana stop the blame game. How long will we continue to blame past governments and leadership? We didnt put you there because we felt all is well? No, we put you there because we need the affairs of the nation to run well. David went a step further to find the solution to the problem. The only game that has no winner is the BLAME GAME! Ghana will shine again if we stop the blame game in leadership! Also, if our leaders engage in vices that break the holy laws of God, things wont work. Consulting idols, witchcraft, river gods, fetish priests, diviners, Palm readers and occultic forces and human sacrifices will bring curses on the land. May God have mercy on us if there has been things like this. People mock spiritual things but when there was a physical famine, it was because a covenant which is a spiritual matter has been broken. May the blood of Jesus speak for us as a nation! Revival is coming to Ghana! 4. There was a sacrifice! King David had to sacrifice to bring restoration. As a nation we must sacrifice! I am talking about human sacrifices! No, we dont need human blood and the blood of animals again when Christ has shed his blood for all men! I am not also talking about a sacrifice where leadership will tell the people to sacrifice and hold their belts but nothing of that sought is seen in leadership. I am talking about honest leadership sacrificing together with the citizens. When the citizens tighten their belts, the leadership must tighten their suits! Lol! Why should we lay people off their jobs with the reason of managing the national purse but leadership will try to seek rise in pay! After the rise in pay, they then cut of it a little percentage! This is not honest leadership! The people will understand when they see genuine sacrifice from leadership! The truth is the people dont see that! Removing subsidies on commodities in view of implementing a VIABLE ECONOMIC POLICY is well accepted but IF whiles subsidies are being removed, leadership dont also pay for these commodities like fuel and the likes but you go to fuel stations and see how fuel is over pumped into the vehicles of some leaders only for the tanks of these vehicles to overflow with fuel on the ground and a poor taxi driver is paying so much for fuel, I think it is cruelty on the citizens. I loved it when I heard the Uruguayan president gives back 90% of his pay back to the poor in society! Any sacrifice will be welcomed by his people. But in all these crisis, there is a remnant in the land that will never lack! The God of Israel is their PROVIDER! Tithers will not go hungry! Givers will never lack! The. God of Israel will show Himself strong in their lives! Isaac sowed in the days of famine and he reaped in the same year! Dont let the economic crisis affect your giving life because it is the secret to survive and to reign in these times! When men are cast down, then shall we say there is a lifting up! I see God lift you up! I see God lift Ghana up! Mr President, we are praying for you but take the right steps, listen to correct people, remove and replace unproductive men around you, be a friend of God, be HONEST to us! God bless our homeland Ghana! May Ghana flourish again! May Ghana grow gold again! May Ghana prosper again! God bless!
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:57:44 +0000
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