I was just thinking:
The
Bible says “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” - Psalm 33:12
I
believe that if our genuine Christian men and women had not been standing in
the gap through intercessory prayer, Zambia would have been worse off than it
is today. There are believers, men and women of God, probably unknown and
unheard of, who have not sort the limelight by standing in front of cameras or important
dignitaries but heeded the teaching of the Lord. Jesus taught us not to pray
like hypocrites who love standing that they may be seen by all the people but to
retreat into the closet and pray, believing, by faith, that the God we call
upon in secret shall reward us openly. He shall hear our cry and heal our land.
These men and women have individually and collectively prayed for the nation of
Zambia.
At my church, Bread of Life, Kitwe, our Pastor
at every Sunday Service prays for this country from the pulpit and calls upon
God to protect and bless all the people of Zambia including the various leaders.
He declares and acknowledges that “You are God in Heaven and You are God in
Zambia! You are Lord in Heaven and You are Lord in Zambia”
The
Apostle Paul told us to pray without ceasing. We must be a country and a people
who individually or collectively pray, earnestly seeking the face of God as guided
by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Zambia must be a nation that dwells in the secret place of
the Most High and abides under the shadow of the Almighty. He alone is our
Refuge and strong Tower. He alone can deliver Zambia from the snare of the
fowler and from the perilous moral, political and economical pestilence through
His intervention and impartation of wisdom that can only descend from His
Throne of Grace. You can today take all the credit for everything that has
worked for us in the past forgetting that there is someone bigger than you and
I who has been watching over us all these years.
There
is also an urgent need for us as a people to renew our national pride.
In
1945, the nation of Japan was brought down to its knees by the Americans who
dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although World War 2 was now
over, the Japanese were utterly defeated on every flank including national
pride. Just under 40 years later, the Japanese economy became one of the
largest in the world and their products can now be found in every country on
this planet and even in outer space.
The
Japanese are a hardworking people and a proud people. They ought to be proud of
their achievements in the last few decades. Here are a people who refused to
wallow in defeat, but picked themselves up by their bootstraps and built a
nation that is now the envy of most countries.
As
a long time fan of City of Lusaka Football Club, I have over the years, always
admired the pride of its supporters. They are proud of their club. I grew up in
Matero but went to Libala Secondary School in 1967. At assembly every Monday, it was a must that the weekend's football match result would be part of the school captain's announcements. If City lost 4-0 to Kitwe United, the announcement would be, "City narrowly lost to Kitwe United yesterday." If we beat Bancroft Blade 1-0, the announcement would be, "Yesterday City completely whitewashed, humiliated and annihilated Bancroft Blades 1-0."
In Matero where I lived as a kid, there was a
competing club, Lusaka Tigers, but I stuck with City. I loved and still do love
City. In my days, even when the chips were down at Woodlands Stadium, we would still shout “Hi City Man!” and “City yamoto!’ Stick with Zambia.
There was a time when Zambians were a proud people. We would greet each other with "Hi Zambia Man!" Remember
that? Our young people today don't know how proud we were. Gone are the days of “Hi Zambia Man!” We must restore that kind of pride to Zambia. We do have the opportunity
to achieve and make ourselves proud again.
To
restore this pride and love for our country, perhaps we should start by putting
into practice the Scripture that our First President Dr Kenneth Kaunda often
reminds us of: “You shall love your neighbor
as you love yourself”, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Jesus Christ, apart from other issues, addresses this very subject in the
parable of the Good Samaritan.
The
Jews regarded the Samaritans as dogs, outcasts, a cursed people, but in this
parable Jesus brings up the tribal issue by proving who the real neighbor was.
It was a man from a different tribe who could have regarded himself as superior
and passed on by, but he didn’t. He loved his neighbor as he loved himself.
Every Zambian from every tribe, we are neighbors and we should “do unto others
as we would do unto ourselves”. We should love each other as we love ourselves.
This is what Jesus Christ taught us. This is what Dr Kaunda reminds us all the
time. We can celebrate that. We can drink to that.
Let us build a new Zambia. A Zambia where we can differ politically
but live together peacefully, respecting divergent views and rejecting any form
of violence, corruption in high and low places, abuse of authority by those in
power, tribalism and other all that would divide us, but instead celebrate our
nationhood, celebrate each other with pride and treating each other fairly with
love.
That great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once
said,
“We must forever conduct
our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our
creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to
the majestic heights of meeting physical
force with soul force.”
This
is the challenge that we as a people have. This is our
challenge for tomorrow and that “tomorrow” starts today, this very moment.
It's just a thought.
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