Let’s rehearse again
the direct consequence of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden: Adam was left with
a destitute mentality because he
inadvertently rejected the intangible, unlimited wealth and riches that were meant for him when he
violated the tree of knowledge. The
serpent, prince of darkness, on the other hand, was blind and clueless of the unlimited wealth meant for his rival,
Adam, though he controlled the limited
wealth and riches of the physical
realm. While Adam struggled and slaved with a destitute mentality, the prince of
darkness flourished and shone because of the physical wealth that he
controlled.
Yet God was determined
to rehabilitate Adam, and reverse the ugly trend whereby he was the slave of Mammon, the prince of darkness. It’s in this context that we begin
to see two distinct personalities in mutual antagonism emerge on the historical
stage: Adam represented by Abraham
was the vessel of mercy while the prince of darkness represented by the arrogant,
oppressive and coercive Pharaoh was
tagged the vessel of wrath.
Knowing that Adam could
only be rehabilitated through the
principle of wealth transfer, the stage was set whereby the rich treasury of
ancient Egypt was plundered, not as an option but by divine ordination, and the
economic power-house of the time was reduced to destitution and penury as her
wealth was transferred to Israel under the leadership of Moses.
You will notice that as
they journeyed to the land of milk
and honey where seven ‘greater and mightier’ nations would be
driven out and destroyed for Israel’s occupation – whenever they were challenged
by adversity of any kind, and they instinctively reacted by complaining or murmuring, they were not only rebuked, but something tragic like
premature death by serpent’s bite would take its toll on them. That’s to say
that as vessels of mercy, whatever
they went through no matter how tough and challenging it was, sorrow and
grieving or depression were not designed
to be part of their emotional make-up.
Isaiah picturing this says: Surely he
hath borne our grief and hath carried our sorrows. James says: Count it all joy when fall into diverse
temptations. Peter puts it this way: Wherein
ye greatly rejoice ,though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes,
though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet
believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
If your emotional
make-up as a vessel of mercy is
designed to reject, contradict and supplant sorrow, depression or despair, then
it becomes a treasonable offence for you to lament and complain when
challenged. To murmur with a fainting heart is to be viewed as a pretender, and
not a contender, un-persuaded and ashamed to stand for his/her faith. Your
failure to rejoice aggressively in
adversity marks you out as a traitor and
not a patriot. When you wail under an adversarial circumstance, you come off
either as a spy or someone who suffers from crisis of identity. The
penalty of being viewed as delusional or
a spy is akin to being ostracized, treated with scorn instead of pity.
Peter says to rejoice
with aggression when you come to a hard place of conflicts in life or
work-place is not an option, but a
compulsory counter-insurgency with
the end-products of praise and honour and glory as the resolution. Why does he say that the trial of your
faith is much more precious than
perishable gold? The unspoken
part of the deal is that without your faith being tried, the PURE GOLD – imperishable, and capable of satisfying your soul – cannot
manifest! TO BE CONTINUED.
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