by Budget season is here with us! And many of us in Kenya have uttered a collective sigh of dismay at the contents of the Finance Bill. Public participation is over and we the people have registered our opposition. The matter is now in the hands of our legislators for the next few weeks. However, if last year is anything to go by, this is just another routine sanctioning process that may not render any serious consideration to the views of many individuals, experts and corporations who agree that we are headed in the wrong direction.
It is not unimaginable that many of us are experiencing slight tremors of anger, fear, worry, anxiety and very valid concern over what this Bill portends for the future and for dwindling disposable incomes. Perhaps you are already thinking of how you will get another side job, maybe sell off a few assets to clear current debt before interest rates shift upward again, cut back on expenses, eat less and any other conceivable mechanism to survive. Just when we thought that the belt can’t get any tighter!
Because our leaders seem to be detached from the plight of the masses and there is unhinged corruption and increased borrowing, save for a miracle, the end of it is clear.
It is easy to give in to the feeling of hopelessness and helplessness; to want to be away from it all, to escape. How disappointing to watch leaders who deliberately want to harm their citizens. Proverbs 29:2 captures it perfectly: ‘When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.’
No retreat
As believers are not left out of this conundrum. So, how do we respond to such times as these when even we are not spared from the ramifications of bad leadership?
The book of Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.’ We are the light of the world, the salt of the earth, the yeast that leavens the world and the city on a high hill that can’t be hidden.
In these increasingly disquieting times, we are not to recoil and retreat but to be on the offensive. Our response must show our hope in a power that is greater than any situation. Indeed our victory is a settled matter. This is the hope that Peter refers to in 1 Peter 1:3: ‘In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,’
This is our assurance and strength. Rather than bowing our heads in despair and getting overwhelmed, we are to remind ourselves like the psalmist did of his secure position in God in Psalm 3:3: ‘But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.’
How can we shine our light in this darkness? Once our focus shifts from doom and gloom to God, He will strengthen us to do more than we thought we could do. Here are a few suggestions:
- Hold on stubbornly to your hope in God because it is not in vain. He knows the end from the beginning and He will bring to completion the vision of your life no matter what it looks like currently. Philippians 1:6 says: ’Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.’ There is no word concerning your life that will be left undone because of what is happening. And what’s more Hebrews 10:35 urges us not to throw way our confidence for it will be richly rewarded.
- Pray, pray, pray– It is easy to revert to helplessness, especially when you feel that your voice does not count and the powers that be will get away with whatever schemes they device. But is there is the all-powerful God! The enemy is not to hold us in consternation and silence. It is the time to pray, pray, pray! Intercede on behalf of this nation’s sovereignty, its people, the leaders and their decisions. Pray for the healing of the nation, for peace, for favor and fruitfulness. Pray for yourself, your dreams, your work, your family and resources. Do not be cowered into the kind of silence that allows the enemy to hammer you with destructive thoughts. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 exhortation stands unchanged, ‘pray continually.’
- Guard your heart– The news will find you; you don’t even have to look for it. And it is seldom positive. While it is good to keep abreast of what is going on, many of us spend an unhealthy amount of time poring over it. We are on the socials discussing what a certain leader said, watching the nine o’clock evening news and reading all the commentaries after. This only serves to fill your soul with fear, anxiety, anger, resentment, rage and negativity. It is bound to crush the spirit and interfere with your mental health. When you steadily gorge yourself on such an unhealthy diet, the results will soon become apparent. Hopelessness gives way to depression and even physical manifestations of disease. As a man thinks, so is he. Instead of consuming negative screen time and taking part in depressing conversations, practice the appeal of Proverbs 4:23: ‘Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.’ Replace the swiping of your screen and the negative chatter with prayer, reading the Word and life-giving fellowship; you can decide to take a nap or take a good walk. Do something that will add to your life and not bring death.
- Trust in God for sustenance– Genesis 26 has an account that I love to go over frequently. It reminds me of how God can sustain one in the harshest of conditions. And not just-barely-there provision. This is the stuff of ‘cup running over.’ Isaac moved to the Philistine territory during a period of famine. Despite the challenges he faced there, verse 12 and 13 is an illustration of God showing up and showing off unmistakably, ‘Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.’ God has His own sense of humor! Just observe the way it riles off his hosts and they try to sabotage him many times albeit unsuccessfully!
Perhaps you are watching with apprehension the massive layoffs of employees and the closing down of businesses. What will happen to you? What if you lose your own job or business? How will you survive?
Immanuel is God with us. He is with us through the whole spectrum of life and He is all that we need; whatever kind of provision that we may need. Watch against being manipulated by desperation. Will you take another job or two to make ends meet? Will you do things that compromise who you are and whose you are? Seek God. You will find that when you take your worries to God, you will not have to tie yourself into all manner of knots to make things work. He will sustain you beyond what you can think, ask or imagine and keep you in His peace. That is what He promises in Proverbs 10:22 — that His blessings make rich without painful toil for it. And what a great way for your life to testify of God’s goodness to those who need His saving grace!
- Gratitude– 1 Thessalonians 5:18 is a call to cultivate the attitude of gratitude. It works! When you can observe and see God’s goodness in every circumstance, you can hold on to hope and remain open and receptive to God’s leading and blessing. A heart that is weighed down by cares can seldom find anything to be grateful for and takes everything for granted; even what would be divinely put in its path to usher in a change would be viewed as a burden. Be careful that in this season so your heart does not become calloused by ingratitude.
- Advocate– Does this look out of place? Our natural inclination is to have nothing to do with the present regime. ‘Mind my own business and do what I can for my loved ones’ may look like a good mantra. The temptation to completely detach from all affairs of the nation is valid. However, righteousness and justice are central themes to the God of the scriptures. And He calls us to be part of it, whether we are leaders or followers. We bear his light that we may carry it into the dark parts of this world. Proverbs 31:8-9, recounts the advice of one wise woman to her son the King. She urges him to ‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.’
Not all of us are in a position to judge and dispense justice but we can all use our voices to speak up when something is wrong, when a section of society is facing oppression. Use your vote wisely even if you stand alone, use your local town hall meetings with leaders to express displeasure, lobby for what is good and right, engage in public participation calls. In the sum of things physical, it may not look like much but our Father sees. His arithmetic is quite different from ours. He is seldom looking for numbers and huge crowds.
In Ezekiel’s days, He passed a damning verdict on the people of Jerusalem, ‘I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.’ This passage in Ezekiel 22, shows how the whole nation was complicit in sin and so hardened in their attitude that not even one was found who was burdened enough to speak up against the rot and to intercede.
In Hebrews 10:36-39 is a promise that we can draw strength from. ‘You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. For in just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. And “ but my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.’
