In a time of desperation, to bring hope to Nebuchadnezzar’s predicament, Daniel, a Jewish captive in Babylon, said, “But there is a God in Heaven”.

Osondu Anyalechi

I heard that a certain king had a faithful servant he was taking with him everywhere he went. His problem with the servant was that he was always appreciating God in all situations of life, the good, the bad and the ugly. The king could not understand him. The king, one day, in an accident, lost one of his fingers. It was agonizing and humiliating to him as a person and to his crown. Seeing what would have made him weep in sympathy, the servant rather shouted, “Thank God”. It was unacceptable to the king. In great rage, he sacked him.

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One day, when the king was travelling somewhere, he was kidnapped. They released him, when they noticed that he had only nine fingers, and thus unfit for ritual sacrifice. He sent for his servant and narrated his ordeal to him. “Praise God,” the servant shouted. The king asked him whether he praised God the day he sacked him. “Yes, sir, I did,” he replied. “Why?” The king asked him, his voice awe-filled. The servant explained that God was behind his sack. “If you did not sack me, I would have followed you that day and both of us would have been kidnapped. They released you because of your missing finger, and since my fingers are complete, they would have used me for the ritual sacrifice,” he told the king.

This is a lesson for us. We may be angry with God, when we are passing through excruciating experiences because we do not know the God factor in them. God controls the affairs of His children. He is not a capricious tyrant that throws banana peeling across our path and watches us skid on them feebly for fun or punishment. This is the truth some ogas may not know, but may be known to their maids or servants. It is the same truth that some teachers, lecturers and professors may not know, but it may be known to their students. Some pastors, bishops or General Overseers, may not know it, yet, some of their members do. In a time of desperation, to bring hope to Nebuchadnezzar’s predicament, Daniel, a Jewish captive in Babylon, said, “But there is a God in Heaven”.

The Bible says that if we know the Truth, it will set us free. Ignorance of the Truth is the main problem of man. Nebuchadnezzar was the king and Daniel, a war captive. The king could kill him and nobody would wink at it. It was amazing that he knew what the king did not know, that there is a God in Heaven. This is the best knowledge any human being can possess. It surpasses all academic research. Uncle Job, even in pains said, “I know that my Redeemer liveth”.

King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and like many people, he forgot it. He knew that it was not an ordinary dream, the type that comes, when we eat too much amala or eba at night. He was disturbed visibly, but since his wise men – magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans – were around, he was sure that they would remind him of it. The Chaldeans pleaded with him to tell them the dream and that they would interpret it. He refused. The test of their proficiency, he rationalized, was for them to tell him the dream, since they could deceive him with a false interpretation. His request, they told him, was strange, and no king had made such a request and that no man could do his bidding, except the gods. He was angry and ordered for their execution. Daniel pleaded with the messenger for an extension of time so that he would talk to God. He was obliged. God, our God, the Living God, revealed the dream to him and he shared it with the king.

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As a young boy growing up, I did not know that there is a God in Heaven, Who controls the affairs of this world and knows the thought in the heart. When my girlfriends visited me, I would look to my right and left and if I did not see anybody, I would close my door, feeling secured. I never looked up because I did not know that God is in Heaven, beholding the sins we were committing. In 1991, when a US lady in Houston could not, perhaps, get what she was lusting for, and finding me strange, she bolted, “Why can’t you sleep with US ladies?” I told her that God has blessed me with the type of brain that I could scheme and do things and nobody would know, “But there is a God in Heaven”. We must know this. Many people are bereft of this, doing evil things in the dark and nobody knows. God does and even our thoughts.

No person will continue his wrong ways of living, if he knows that there is a God in Heaven. Many people talk about God but their lifestyle contradicts their confession. They play religion by putting plastic flowers in their drab lives. Many people fear their fellow men more than they fear God and can go to any extent to conceal their evil deeds. They do not want to be caught by the Law Enforcement Agents. Some of them carry weapons, not actually with the intention to kill people, but to intimidation. They kill only to conceal their evil deeds. Why do evil people delight in waylaying travellers on highways at night? Why do they mask themselves? Why do people report the evil acts of others, and would conceal their [people reporting] identity? Why do some people hold evil meetings in secret places against their fellow human beings?

A criminal may escape justice by contracting a brilliant lawyer, bribing his way through or sponsoring the destruction of the incriminating evidence against him. The victim may be relying on the testimony of the witnesses, not knowing that they have been bought over. They will speak in favour of the accused and the criminal is set free by the trial Judge, causing jubilation for his family, friends and co-travellers in crime. Losing a case in the human court means nothing to a child of God, since he knows that the just court is in Heaven. He is not perturbed. His solace is, “But there is a God in Heaven”.

For Apostle Peter, his death was sure. His trial and execution would just be after the Passover. Who would dare the prison authority, when his hands and feet were tied to two soldiers, so that they would be alerted by his movements? The prison doors were locked securely. Sixteen soldiers were guarding the premises. In spite of all these, something inconceivable happened. Peter’s chains broke in pieces. He started to walk out of the prison, walking out from the guards, unstoppable and free. In a house, somewhere, some people were in a vigil, talking to God about him. They might have planned to have it again the next night. Peter entered there. They could not believe it. “Is it you or your spirit?” They might have asked in wonder, knowing that King Herod would not have released him. Peter might have responded, “I don’t know what happened, but there is a God in Heaven”.

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For further comment, please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0802 3002 471; anyalechiosondu@yahoo. com