Certainly, it could be downright demoralizing
and distressing to find yourself in the ugly, embarrassing situation where your
struggle to settle your debts has overwhelmed your ability to pay. No matter
how you try to put your best face to it, and be upbeat, it is shameful and
humiliating. It violates your sense of what is honourable and decent.
You might try to spin
it, and pass it off as a learning curve on your path to success. Yet, the
reality is that your exposure to this aggravating position goes sneakily to
shake the foundation of your self-esteem, and crack your wall of
self-confidence. It puts a question mark on your capacity to make wise
decisions, and exercise sound judgements.
No
award has ever been given to any man or woman classified as someone unlikely or
unable to pay their debts. Its negative connotation fills you with silent
dread. Yet to get a respite, you think that keeping the company of esteemed
celebrities like Donald Trump and 50Cent who declared bankruptcy to secure
legal protection, might not be such a bad thing after all. There are several
legitimate reasons why people declare bankruptcy. Have you suffered any job loss
due to resignation, termination or layoff ? Are you recovering from serious,
wasting diseases or injuries that made your medical expenses to pile up ? Have you recently gone through a
divorce/separation where your assets are divided up, and you are required to
pay certain amounts for the upkeep of your spouse ? Whatever your reason, it must be admitted
frankly that your thought to declare bankruptcy is not strange or new.
But
the question must be asked: Is that the only feasible option? Is there no way
out? Three characters from the Bible
play in the inner recesses of my mind as I write this. One is named Gideon. The
other two are unnamed. Still there are valuable lessons to be learned from
their lives.
At one time in Gideon’s ancient Israel, the people were oppressed
and impoverished by their enemies, the Midianites. Gideon’s countrymen found
their comfort zone in hiding, ashamed of their weakness, afraid too because
they had no antidote against the unrelenting assault of their adversaries.
Seizing every opportunity to invade and raid the land of Israel, the enemies
destroyed and looted whatever they could, leaving nothing behind to sustain Gideon’s countrymen.
Productivity was low and dismal; the prospect for growth was bleak. Israel
tethered on the precipice of bankruptcy. When the people cried out of despair,
a prophet was sent to them with a rebuke: And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God:
fear not the gods of the Amorites in
whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice. (see the book of
Judges 6:10)
Still
Gideon was sent to deliver Israel, which he did. His insecurity and poverty
mentality had to be supplanted by a new persona of bravery, resourcefulness and
wealthy mentality created by God to enable the man achieve his assignment.
Now
the main lesson that we draw from the story for this topic is: LET YOUR BELIEF
SYSTEM DROWN YOUR FEARS! Your fear can lead you to compromise and
counterfeit. INSTEAD OF HIDING FROM YOUR ENEMIES, PURSUE, OVERTAKE AND
CONSUME THEM! (Psalm 18:37-44) We’d come to this later on.
In
the book of 2 Kings 4, we saw a pathetic situation in which a widow watched
almost helplessly how her two sons were about to be taken as slaves for the
settlement of a debt left behind by her late husband who happened to be a prophet.
As far as she was concerned, she was a bankrupt destitute. Having sought the
intervention of Elisha, it took the interrogation of the prophet for her to
realize that she still had a “pot of oil”
in the house to trade with. Having
confirmed that by pouring from the “pot of oil”, all the empty vessels that she
was able to borrow were full with oil, she went and told Elisha, the man of
God, who promptly said: “Go, sell the
oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and the children of the rest.”
Memorable
lesson: RATHER THAN SUFFER FROM A DESTITUTION OF MIND, YOU SHOULD NEVER FORGET
THERE’S ALWAYS A POT OF OIL IN YOUR
HOUSE YOU COULD MAGNIFY AND MULTIPLY, THEN SELL TO PAY OFF YOUR
DEBT!
A
steward was accused of wasting his master’s goods. Called upon to give an
account, as his stewardship had been taken away, making him jobless, he said
within himself: “I cannot dig; to beg
I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do...”
(see full story in the book of Luke 16:1-9)
Worthy
lesson: TO BE RESOLVED IS TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE PREVAILED EVEN BEFORE YOU
START! Until you are resolved, you are directionless.
When you are not resolved on a thing, you are helpless. Indeed to be
speculating and questioning puts help far away from you. To be resolved prevents you
from a beggarly existence, and being
a case study of bankruptcy!
Again,
three lessons to bear in mind to fortify yourself against declaring bankruptcy
and folding up your life. (1) Your belief system must drown your fears. (2)
Abandon destitution of mind. (3) Be resolved before you make a move.
Now,
what does it really mean to believe?
It means to trust or accept a thing as true.
BELIEVING
IS NOT DECEPTION.
BELIEVING
IS NOT TRICKERY.
BELIEVING
IS NOT FAKERY.
BELIEVING
IS NOT BLUFFING.
BELIEVING
IS WAR!!
Starting
where you are, it’s only believing,
not seeing, that can save anyone or
anything from disintegration, bankruptcy
or death. Yes, it takes believing what is tangible
and describable on the other side of
eternity! It takes believing in your
heart to drown your fears, jettison
destitution of mind, and bring resolution into your life.
What
we are talking about is not a situation where we believe what another person claims that he or she could verify by their own sight. Your
belief system must originate from your own heart, certainly not another
person’s philosophy or make-believe!
SEEING
IS DEATH. “ To be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)
BELIEVING
IS LIFE. “ We having the same spirit of faith...: we also believe, and
therefore speak...While we look not at the things which are seen, but at
the things which are not seen...but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor.4:13-18)
To
obey the voice of God means
primarily to speak what you believe! YOUR REFUSAL TO SPEAK WHAT YOU
BELIEVE WILL MAKE YOU FEARFUL AND VICTIMISED, like Gideon’s countrymen.
So
now you can reverse whatever that is driving you toward the edge of bankruptcy.
You must refuse to fold up your life. Let your eyes of understanding be
enlightened. Yes, my friend, there’s something in your house right now that you
can MAGNIFY, MULTIPLY AND SELL to pay your debt.
...There is no searching of his understanding.
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth
strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall
utterly fall. But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they
shall walk, and not faint. (see book of Isaiah 40:28-31)
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| Felix N.Jarikre. |
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