TURNING THE TIDE BY DENNIS INYANG

It is an open secret that David, not the sovereign monarch of Israel but the little shepherd boy who stole the show in the valley of Elah, is my favorite example when it gets to shaming the pundits. He is the quintessential underdog who flips the game against all expectations and sends the celebrated and probably over-rated giant to the dust. Well, Goliath was not so fortunate to merely kiss the dust. He had his head cut off and his trunk served to the birds. And all these were done by an unknown teenager whose only skill was to throw a stone with a sling. But that was all David needed to silence the raucous boast of Goliath, champion of the Philistines, and save Israel from reproach and servitude.

This famous David versus Goliath encounter is what fills my mind today as I consider what to write for the May edition of your favorite blog, A Word in Season. For over three months, the world has been terrorized by a certain coronavirus whose origin has become a source of attrition between nations. In the manner that Goliath boasted for forty days and the only response he got was for the armies of Israel to hide in their trenches, #covid-19 has taunted nations, infected over three million people and taken over a quarter of a million lives, and haven’t we reacted in the same way by shutting our borders and hiding in our homes in a desperate effort at containment? I think it’s trite to say that hiding in your bunker does not stop a war, it prolongs it. Sooner or later, you will have to come out and fight or risk the prospect of being captured alive.

A BOLT FROM THE BLUES

Nobody in the camp was in a worse state of misery than King Saul. The eyes of all of Israel were on him. Yet he felt powerless and abdicated his responsibility as Commander-in-chief of the Israeli armed forces. His warriors gave him no comfort. None of them could step up to Goliath’s challenge until news filtered to the king that there was a lad who had offered to go against the Philistine in battle. Even though he had some doubts and had a different idea on how David should approach the battle, it is to his eternal credit that King Saul gave the boy clearance for the fight.  

Today, the leading nations of the world are falling over themselves trying to produce a vaccine for coronavirus. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is  spending billions of dollars to fund research and clinical trials of several vaccines with the hope that one or two of them will pass the test. America has just recommended Remdesivir for the treatment of very bad cases of the coronavirus. But when news broke that Madagascar has found a cure for #covid-19 from an African herb, the World Health Organization disapproved of it and quickly issued a warning that an untested drug should not be used for the treatment of coronavirus. Is it true that WHO believes that such a curative drug cannot come from Africa? While the world is hoping for a big medical breakthrough, tested and proven in world-class laboratories, many are claiming to have recovered from coronavirus just by drinking a crude cocktail of ginger, garlic, onions and honey.

Let me be very clear that this article is not about the cure for #covid-19. But I want to make the point that in your moment of greatest need, God can send you help from strange and unexpected quarters. You cannot expect Him to help you when you shut your mind to uncommon possibilities. As you will find everywhere in scriptures, our God specializes in springing surprises. 

GOD OF SURPRISES 

One of the early disciples whom Jesus called was Phillip, a man from Bethsaida. Phillip found his friend, Nathaniel, and told him that he had seen the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Excuse me, did you say Nazareth? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”, Nathaniel asked. Everyone expected a Messiah but nobody expected him to come from Nazareth. However, the irony of life is that your own Messiah can come out of despicable places. 

Jesus Christ is our High Priest, called after the order of Melchizedek. His is an unchangeable priesthood and even today, He lives to make intercession for us. But, interestingly, He was not born into the tribe of Levi. He sprang out of Judah of which nothing was said concerning the priesthood. Isn’t that why many could not receive Him? They were blinded by religion and tradition. But those who received Him, He gave the power to become sons of God. 

That receiving is where the challenge is. For some, it will require that they begin to view life with a radically different pair of lenses. They will need to accept that what the tiny ant lacks in size and strength, it makes up for in wisdom. If your perspective to life is wrong, you may not recognize supernatural help when you see it.

HELP IS NOT FAR AWAY

Though Naaman was a highly decorated General in the Syrian army, probably the Chief of Army Staff, and a dependable ally of the king, he was a leper. His military exploits and his political connections could bring him no succor. I imagine that he must have spent a fortune on getting medical intervention but to no avail. Unknown to him, the little slave girl who was brought from Israel as a spoil of war to serve his wife held the key to his healing. How many big men would heed the counsel of their housemaids? How many bosses have missed their breakthrough because they spurned the ideas of their staff?

Just before the lockdown, it became obvious to me that we would need to move all activities of our church online. I sought help from the man who usually produces our promos and edits our videos. He declined and explained that his knowledge of social media was limited but sent me his friend. Immediately, we bought a digital camera and got whatever we needed for live streaming. Sadly, the first few weeks were disastrous. We tried all we could yet the visuals were not good enough. It was in our search for remedy that I was reminded that we have a young man in our church who is quite versatile in social media. I sent for him and he was able to provide a short term solution immediately. As we say it in Lagos, what we were looking for in Sokoto was already in our sokoto.

NOT A PRICE TO PAY

To conclude, let me return to the valley of Elah and create another scenario. Imagine that King Saul dismisses David’s offer to take on Goliath, probably after consulting his two brothers who are respectable officers in the army. They inform the king that David knows nothing about warfare and was not serious about the offer. So, the king orders that the lad be evacuated immediately. And to break the stalemate, the king bites the bullet and steps out to face Goliath. In a little while, the battle is over and the old warhorse looks up with a bloody head dangling from the tip of his sword. It’s the head of King Saul. The army of Israel is in disarray; everyone is running for dear life and the Philistines are in hot pursuit. What a terrible price to pay for not recognizing that help can come from strange quarters.