Skip to main content

Psalms 49-Why Fear?



God has use of the poor; He also has use of the rich. He attempts to lift the former as He tries to woo the latter. In God’s economy both have space; the poor one is down and so must be lifted up while the rich one is often satisfied and in need of little hence must be wooed. For God desires the heart of both.
Psalms 49 mainly dwells on the rich. Its final verse summarises the lessons we can draw from it. This treasure-trove of scripture proffers a life-skill that many a modern man, with his exaggerated capitalist mind-set can scarce understand. It says;
People who have wealth but lack understanding
    are like the beasts that perish. Vs 20
Like the fellow who listens to a good sermon and all the while wishes that his neighbour could be there to be rebuked by the preacher’s word so am I tempted to say, ‘ I wish our politicians could read this’.
What does the verse mean and where does it lead us? What does it mean to have wealth but lack understanding? For answers let us look at the rest of the chapter in stages. Lets start with verses 5-6
Why should I be afraid
    in times of trouble,
    when I am surrounded
    by vicious enemies?
6 They trust in their riches
    and brag about
    all of their wealth.. vs5-6 (CEV)
Why should I fear fellow men seems to be the question? Men may have power over us or gain unrestricted access into our affairs simply because they are wealthy but why should I fear if I honestly believe that the God I serve is much more powerful?
I recall one time in my career when a tension-filled restructuring process was going on and in the course of daily work, I declined a request from a particularly abrasive senior manager. The following day he summoned me to his office and demanded to know why I was not following ‘orders’. I was ticked off but what could I do? Don’t some say that to be employed is to be a slave? I had no voice here. I stood there and made some meek noises as this towering giant of a man lectured me for what seemed an eternity. As he wound up, he delivered the final blow;
‘You should know that I hold your future in my hands!’ he roared.
I stared at him blankly and slinkered away. I had no words. After all it was indeed true that the sword of Damocles had been hanging over our department for some time. I went to the restroom and prayed quietly. I figured that God would hear me.
 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Benny Hinn _My Testimony

Why Benny Hinn? Someone asked me this question last week. Today let me endeavor to give you the background story to this, as a member of the organizing secretariat. Sometime last year, a group of servants of God was praying, seeking the face of God as to why the foretold revival in Kenya seemed never to really come, and even the massive crusades we used to have at Uhuru Park seemed to have quietly fizzled out. It was obvious also that there were no megachurches in Kenya and any servant of God who tried rising was hit with scandal after scandal. Why? Our preachers never really get invited to top platforms internationally, our Gospel musicians are mostly only local while Nigeria, Tz, even Rwanda are shaking the continent. The Lord answered them. Our grievous sin had closed the heavens over us. And this sin was how we, as a nation, had treated the servants of God who had been sent here with these graces. They all left in tears, shaking dust off their feet at Kenya. Pst Benny Hinn came t...
Post a Comment
Read more

How I Received My First False Prophecy For 2024-Part I

At the turn of every year, we have a long-standing family tradition of sitting down to flip through T.V. channels. We watch various ministers and performers with different groups of people ushering in the new year in style (with my wife- the children now prefer to be outside blasting those darn fireworks) . However, even after years of midnight sofa-slouching, I still can’t decide who between the ministers and the performers say the most outrageous things. For some reason, the moment seems to turn every charismatic minister worth his salt into some kind of prophet. Pastors, evangelists, apostles, and even the odd comedian feel compelled to utter a 'word' or two for the new year. Often, t hese 'prophetic moments' are highly charged interludes with MOGs & WOGs (Men & Women Of God) giving 'ecstatic utterance' as their listeners rapturously respond with 'Amen!' and ‘I receive!’ This is all good and okay. The problem, however, is that these pr...
3 comments
Read more

Earth Is Hard, Pick Your Hard -II

  ♫ Lay down the burden of your heart, I know you'll never miss it. Show your Father where it hurts, And let your Father lift it. ♬ watch here Or if you prefer, here is the equally lovely ORIGINAL VERSION    by Jesse Winchester, which I must one day sing to my daughter too . For bed-time stories, we were reading scripture with the kids and got to the story of young King Solomon conversing with God.  At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 1 King 3.5   Thinking that this could be an opportune time to find out their hidden concerns in life, I turned first to my son and asked, “If you were Solomon, what would you have asked for?” “Uhmm, I think I would want to be king forever!” “And why would you want to be king forever?” I probed. “Dad, do you think President Uhuru can afford to have pizza whenever he wants?” I knew where this was heading and so I quickly turn...
Post a Comment
Read more