Jonathan, King Saul’s heir-apparent, had a crippled son by name, Mephibosheth. A cripple can only walk and run in his dream or imagination. He is therefore limited seriously in many areas of his life. Their paying profession is begging. This handicap affects also their social status. One day, King David enquired whether there was anybody he had not shown kindness in Saul’s family because of Jonathan, his friend.
Mephibosheth was not aware of the declaration until Ziba, a servant of Saul, told David about him. Not minding his ugly situation, the king sent for him and issued a decree that he would be dining with him all the days of his life. The unexpected change in his economic and social status had come. For sure, the time to favour him had come. And so will it be for you and for me in this year 2017, in Jesus’ name!
Imagine a cripple, who was Mr. Nobody, eating and wining with the greatest personality in the realm. Imagine a cripple, eating choice food he did not buy, eating the same food with the king, food that was always available, and above all, eating on the same table with the monarch. That was not his story yesterday because it was not the time to favour him, but today, his story had changed. Abraham passed through the same bitter tunnel. Left and right of him, people were having their babies, including the unbelievers. Imagine his filling, when his neighbours were having twins and triplets but none for him! One day, his favour came. Sarah, his wife, at the age of ninety years, gave birth to Isaac. We know that the Lord Jesus came out of his loins but there was nothing to recommend those unbelievers who, seemingly appeared to be more favoured than him before Isaac was born. King Saul did everything he could to kill David. At a time, David had to seek refuge in the enemy’s territory. One day, the time of his favour came. He sat pleasantly on the throne of Israel.
Those, who despised Mephibosheth the previous day, would rather seek his friendship today as his time to be favoured by God through David had come. Those who had no need for his telephone number and email address would be doing everything possible to get them. When he laughed or sneezed, the press would report it. The newspapers would be awash with the congratulatory messages on his birthday. Nothing would prevent APC, PDP, APGA, and indeed, all political parties from fronting him for membership. Favour!
The beauty of it all was that there was nothing anybody could do about it. Shouting, anger, criticism, et cetera, by anybody, would not alter anything. And so will yours be. There was nothing also the devil could do about it. They taught us in school, that Dr. Azikiwe’s fame was so much established that praises would not augment it, neither would censure diminish it. And so was that of Mephibosheth. It was not accomplished by him nor by anybody but only by God.
Yes, the time of your and my favour has come. And there is nothing anybody or the devil can do about it. I figure that our favour may however, create some problems for someone. This will be the fellow, who may not like it. It may lead that person to retire from service, in his best interest. In the past, he was bossing us and we were ‘siring’ him. With our favour, he has to adjust, as we will be bossing him and he will be ‘siring’ us. It may lead to someone relocating to another residence or to his village to avoid daily grumbling, when he witnesses the uncommon blessings of God for us. He may consider it better to be hearing from people what God is doing for us than being an eye witness. David saw it as ‘God preparing a table before him, in the presence of his enemies’.
It may lead to someone changing his business line. This is the person on the same business line with us. He has done his utmost to frustrate us, telling cooked-up stories to our business creditors so that they will no longer be extending credit facility to us. As the time for our favour has come, where will he hide his face, when he notices that we are no longer buying goods in dozens, but in trailer loads? Will it not be painful to him, if he sees our former business creditors coming to us now for commercial loans? It will rather pay him, so he may reason, to change to another line of business, which will preclude all types of comparison between us.
What pains people, who hate Christians, is that our favour does not come in ‘messy drops’ but in showers. Imagine a man, according to Ndigbo, whose wife delivers a twin and he is saturated with joy. Not long after, news reaches him that his trap has caught an antelope! He will dance to his right and also to his left. Uncle Peter experienced a similar thing one day. He and his professional friends deployed their skill and still, they caught nothing. As they were washing their nets to go home and face the wrath of their wives for not bringing any fish home, Jesus came and told them what to do. They obeyed and caught beyond normal expectations. As favour has always surpassed all known projections, they engaged other fishermen to help them in pulling out their net.
Our favour may cause somebody to change his attitude towards us. When a child washes his hands properly, Ndigbo say that he can dine with adults. Once a person’s favour has come, it attracts him respect and honour. And so it was with me, when I visited my former master in 1958. When I was serving him, my dining table was on my laps in the kitchen. My visit was with that mind-set but was surprised when I was served food on the dining table. On one occasion, food was served for both of us on the dining table. Trust me, I entered the room in pretence of getting something there till he had finished eating. Those house-helps, who served me, were there, when I was serving him. They knew that I was no longer one of them. I even visited there with my house-boy. The time of my favour had come and there was nothing those house-helps could do about it.
The marvel about favour is that it comes unexpectedly and in such a manner that it leaves everybody in wonder. David said, “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing, then said they among the heathen, ‘The Lord hath done great things for them’” And so will the Lord turn your captivity and mine this year and fill our mouths with laughter and our tongues with singing, and so will people praise the Lord because of us this 2017.
For further comment, Please contact: Osondu Anyalechi: 0802 3002-471; anyalechiosondu@yahoo.com