What to Make of All This!
BEYOND THE DECADE PRAYER GUIDE: December 2024
A paragraph in Anthon Souman’s exposition of Daniel 10 captures the spirit of our final prayer topic: What to make of all this! He states, “We must really focus on what is said here in verse 12. Daniel set his mind to gain understanding. He did not ask, or demand, that God fulfil his promises. No, Daniel asked to understand why God did all this and why he waited so long to act in this terrible situation. He trusted that God would certainly fulfil all his promises as he did in the past. He did not ask God to change the whole situation, but he wanted to understand it so that he can accept it, and also praise God for the way in which he works.”
Imagine Daniel’s joy. He was now probably in his nineties. Jeremiah’s prophecy was being fulfilled right before his eyes (Jer 25:9–13). The first batch of exiled Jews had returned to Jerusalem. He had lived through the exile. He arrived as a youth. He and his three friends remained faithful to their Jewish belief. They would not contaminate their faith with the diet of Babylon. He endured the testing of his faith: delivered from death along with the wisemen of Babylon when he was able to tell Nebuchadnezzar what he dreamed about and offered an interpretation; he was delivered from the lion’s den when he was framed by his fellow officials. His three Jewish friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survived the flaming furnace for refusing to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s image.
The Jews who returned to Jerusalem under King Cyrus’ edict erected an altar and even laid the foundation for the second temple under the leadership of their royal prince, Zerubbabel. O what joy! But the rebuilding came to a standstill. There was stiff opposition from the foreigners the Assyrians had earlier settled in Israel. Daniel heard the news. It was discouraging. Could the temple ever be restored in the face of such great opposition? Could Jerusalem be rebuilt at all? This was not the restoration he was looking forward to, so he turned to prayer and intercession. For three weeks Daniel waited on the Lord. God sent an angel with an answer, but he was detained by the Prince of Persia for twenty-one days until Michael, the chief angel, came to release him. However, God’s answer through the angel in chapters 11 and 12 seemed to have bypassed Daniel’s immediate concern of the stalling of the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem. Rather the answer dwelt on the far future of God’s people; what would take place between the return out of exile and the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.” (Daniel 12:11 & 12). The temple and Jerusalem he longed to see rebuilt and prosper would once again be razed down, and the Jews would go into a far longer exile! God pointed out to Daniel that the redevelopment of the temple and Jerusalem though necessary should not define Daniel’s vision for his people, rather their faithfulness. Because in the RESTORATION only the faithful, the wise ones, shall possess the new earth and heaven. “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3. What is shaping your vision for Africa and the African Diaspora? Is it development or their faithfulness to God Most High?
God’s answer to Daniel exhibits one of his important principles. He will not always answer our fervent prayers but will always meet our greatest need. This principle underscored Jesus’ seemingly ‘harsh’ response to the royal official’s request to accompany him to Capernaum to heal his sick son. “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “You will never believe.” (John 4: 48). The encounter pushed the royal official to face and acknowledge his greatest need. Jesus was the one, the only one, the Messiah he needed to trust. He was not just a miracle worker and an ordinary prophet. It was only after this confession that Jesus sent his ‘word’ to heal his son. And he believed the ‘word’ even though Jesus did not go with him to Capernaum.
Development (as in developing our communities) is one of the outward public acts of worship God expects from Christ followers, as outlined in James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Here is an illustration from C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, Book Six, that depicts the present predicament of many Pan-African Christians with regards to development of our communities. In the sixth book of the Chronicles of Narnia, after Aslan (representing Jesus) had sung Narnia into existence, Digory, a boy, was seen weeping at the first scene. His mother was dying. She was very sick. He had found himself magically translated into Aslan’s Narnia. Aslan asked him to go across Narnia, this newly minted world that had just been created, pluck an apple from a particular tree in the garden there and bring it back to him. Digory obeyed Aslan and went on the mission with his friend Polly. They found the garden Aslan had described. Digory entered the garden through the gate and plucked the sweet-smelling silver apple. Though Digory felt tempted to eat the juicy apple because he was hungry, he was determined to obey Aslan.
As soon as he stepped outside the garden, he met a woman who would become the White Witch. She was munching on one of the juicy apples, its juice streaming down her face in cascades of defiance. It was obvious she had stolen her way into the garden and did not enter by the gate. She convinced Digory to eat his apple too, promising him it would make him live forever. When that trick failed, she tried to convince him to take the apple to his dying mother who would immediately be made whole, instead of taking it to Aslan. That was tempting, very tempting because Digory would like his mother to recover and live. The trick to spite Aslan was very subtle: “What has he ever done for you that you should be his slave! What can he do to you once you are back in your own world: And what would your Mother think if she knew that you could have taken her pain away and given her back her life and saved your Father’s heart from being broken, and that you wouldn’t — that you’d rather run messages for a wild animal in a strange world that is no business of yours?” But Digory joined Polly on Fledge’s back and they flew away. When they arrived, Digory gave Aslan the apple and narrated his encounter with the White Witch. Aslan told Digory that if he had eaten the apple as the White Witch had suggested, yes, it would have healed his mother, but it would not bring joy to him or her. “The day would have come when both you and she would have looked back and said it would have been better to die in that illness.” (Jacob Gerber, 2017).
The White Witch is daggling the juicy ‘Apple of Development’ before Pan-African Christians everywhere as their end goals. She is suggesting all sorts of short cuts, and some in fact will work, as Aslan told Digory but will end in misery for the masses sooner or later. “Cloaking evil with good is Satan’s signature.” (C S Lewis). The White Witch of Development despises the faith of the faithful few, as she treated Digory in the fictional story of Narnia, who would rather give their ‘Apple of Faith’ back to Christ daily to increase it so they can produce ‘development’ as their outward public acts of worship to God, and not as an end goal. C. S Lewis illustrates this strategy of the devil in his Christian apologetic novel, The Screwtape Letters, where a senior demon, Screwtape, writes to his nephew, Wormwood, a junior tempter about God, addressed as the Enemy, whom Christians attempt to use as their means. “For the Enemy (God) will not be used as a convenience. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist’s shop. Fortunately, it is quite easy to coax humans round this little corner.”
We have labored through eleven months of intercession for Africa and the African Diaspora to redeem the International Decade for people of African Descent, speaking its future God has planned into being. This month is the twelfth. What exactly has Jesus come to do with us and with our prayers?
Pray that every Pan-African Christian will understand that any development activity we undertake must proceed with intentionality from a place of worship, an outward public act of worship, which honors Christ, a manifestation of our spiritual worship. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1&2, NIVUK). Development is not our end goal!
Pray that Africa and the African Diaspora will stop worshipping at the altar of ‘development’ but rather at the foot of the CROSS. The ‘development’ god, the kind the world is enamored with, demands sacrifices that only profane the name of God Most High and diminishes our humanity. “The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.” Proverbs 21:6. “In the pride of your heart you say, “I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.” But you are a mere mortal and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god. Are you wiser than Daniel? … By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, and because of your wealth your heart has grown proud.” (Ezekiel 28:1–10).
Let’s pray that the Pan-African Church will discover and accept the truth that “Jesus meets our deepest needs, even when he doesn’t grant our most fervent prayers” in our pursuit of development. Pray that God will deliver us from the attitude of the people of Galilee, Jesus’ home region. “So, when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.” (John 4:45). To the Galileans, Jesus had the right resume to elevate their region into prominence. A prophet and a miracle worker, they welcomed him because he could feed thousands with a few loaves of bread and fish. The lame walked and the blind could see. But they would not acknowledge him as their Messiah, their only need. Pray that the Pan-African Church will not limit Jesus to a miracle worker whose name is invoked to meet every seemingly urgent need in development. Pray that every day Jesus will deal with us, as he dealt with the royal official from Capernaum, so we can proclaim him and honor him alone as our Messiah and our greatest need under all circumstances in the pursuit of development.
Praise God for what He has accomplished for Africa and the African Diaspora because we obeyed the call to pray. “Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.” (Daniel 10: 12).
Praise God that he has opened our understanding on this journey. God expects us to have gained understanding of our past, its ramifications and repercussions on the present, and how He can transform them into a better future for us. God has been probing the inadequacy of our faith on this journey. God has a plan, and he will not allow things to play out for Africa and the African Diaspora prematurely. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Praise God that on this journey, we have discovered what Africa and African Diaspora communities need most urgently to move forward to bring glory to God: a value system transformation based on Judeo-Christian philosophy. As we noted on this journey, slave-trading was a major turning point in the history of Africa: both the Arab and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This practice though widely carried on in many regions of the world in the past, had never deployed its most dangerous arsenal as it did in the case of Africa. A confluence of factors which prevailed on the continent made this possible: tribal leaders who were ignorant of happenings on the world stage, a debilitating value system derived from voodoo philosophy, and a largely illiterate economy. How do we judge, weigh, and dissect this past confluence of factors to inform our strategy for the present and the future.
Praise God that the Beyond the Decade Prayer Journey to redeem the UN International Decade for People of African Descent ending this year, 2024, has served as a rite of passage for us. The kiss of God’s Son has released a fresh spiritual discernment, strength, and courage to help us navigate the future ahead successfully as a people. “Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.” John 6:21. Let us allow Jesus to remain our greatest need and focus, and our boat will immediately reach the shore of development where we are headed. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah!
God richly bless you as you continue to intercede for everyone of African descent to be set free to fully live for Christ Jesus, our only Lord and Savior, so we can fulfill our assignment as a people God has planned to use in His Last Days Agenda.
Beyond the Decade Vision is led and implemented by Beyond the Decade Coalition. To learn more about the Coalition, its members, and its mandate, visit www.beyondthedecade.org.
