This Busy World
This Busy World
God often visits us, but most of the time we are not at home. This is a proverb that really befits this corporate generation. With population explosion that we are experiencing, it is only reasonable that survival may be the key factor among the seven billions inhabitants of this world. To earn a living is a major challenge that is facing a lot of people from nation to nation, on the face of the earth today.
Beside the economic factor, there are political, religious, social, and medical factors that make human beings keep moving. A bird’s eye view of this rat race is vividly picture at our lands and air ports: it is here we see restless beings of all status and statures moving in and out of countries for reasons best known to them. Heathrow airport would have been a good place to see people from all works of life leaving and coming into the country. Airports and seaports are open to people day and night, while the land boarders are not closed even on holidays. It is amazing that while some are going to bed, some are getting out of bed, and the world remains sleeplessly open to its inhabitants.
There is a driving force behind people’s movements. To the corporate mind, the word ‘target’ has another meaning than the ordinary dictionary explanation. It is this target that births a force behind the task outlined by the 21st century minds: Things must be done in time and on time. The Hebrews will say, ‘Ambition destroys its possessor.’ When does ambition becomes over – ambition? Gradually over time, once contentment is out of the mind, an innocent ambition can become a ruthless over – ambition with winner takes all attitudes to life. Greed is another name for it.
‘Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?’ - Habakkuk 2:13
A statistics was once taken for the new comers coming to live in Lagos, Nigeria. The task was to compare their Blood Pressure on the first week of arrival, and then to take the reading for the same group of people eight weeks after. The statistical results show that over 65% of these new comers have developed a high Blood Pressure!
It will not surprise us if the same results obtain in a city like New York, USA. The rural areas that are peaceful are not well off economically, the urban areas that are well off economically are not peaceful. Howbeit, people throw caution to the wind and move towards the economically advantageous urban areas. Many years ago, there were graffiti written on walls in London saying, ‘This city is full’ today, as I write this hub, the city is overcrowded with higher premium to be paid for living there. Taking Londoners blood pressure, we might get a result that is not too different from that of New York or Lagos.
Overcrowded cities normally face the challenge of accommodation, so it is not strange to see people under the stress of homelessness in cities like Lagos, London, New York, etc. They say trouble comes in double; this is so if the people in the crowded cities are now faced with unemployment! Emotionally they are stressed already, desperate to do anything to survive. Across these people are the ones with jobs and homes, who are working tirelessly to keep their jobs. So in most places of the world, we see those who are crazily seeking for a job, and those who are desperately keeping their jobs. One way or the other, everybody is busy.
Twenty - four hours of the day is no more enough for these corporate machines: The working class eats their lunch while walking in Hong Kong and in many major cities of the world; they retire to an eatery at night for their dinner, only to wake up very early for another day at office. Definitely, the corporate world is very busy with no time to raise godly children. Some of the children of these working class corporate couples hardly see their parents, if they are fortunate not to be in the boarding schools, they might catch a glance of their parents only on Sundays.
The time you don’t spend with your children, their friends will spend with them: and what you don’t teach your children, their friends will teach them. This is a major reason while vices increase in a corporate world. Peer pressures from friends have destroyed many wonderful lives, and had rendered many youths useless to their communities and to the world in general. Depending on how you see it, the children are busy too in their world.
Among the problems confronting governments of the nations of the world today is youth restlessness. While the governments are not sincere, the youth lack patience on their parts. The governments are busy formulating policies that cannot hold water, and so they graduate from one crisis management to another. United Nations’ Secretary General is busy running from pole to post; looking for solutions to world crisis. The American President is busy; pretending to draw up answers to the world’s problems from his articulated speeches, but it is all Mississippi bubbles. The African leaders are busy, busy looting their impoverished nations, giving their people empty promises while attending meetings all over the world.
You only need to spend thirty minutes on global news to see that truly, the whole world is in a mess! Watching news update on Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, CCTV, France 24, Fox news, etc., you will surely agree with me that the perilous times are here! Good news is scarce these days! Yet nobody seems to notice this, because everybody is busy in a busy world. Our busy for nothing attitude has grounded many families to a halt in a crisis laden world. To make the matter worse, the religious leaders are also busy; busy building their own kingdoms with numbers of membership, intimidating buildings and choice private jets, all in this same world that is almost collapsing in crisis.
We might rightly ask ourselves, what is God doing in all these calamities that are facing the world? Good question, but God once spoke to Ezekiel, the prophet, in a similar situation like we have right now. Hear Him:
‘And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.’
- Ezekiel 22:30
Standing the gap before God simply means intercession, praying to God on behalf of the land. Abraham stood the gap for Sodom, Moses did the same for Israel, and Nehemiah became a renowned leader in the history of Israel, after he had stood the gap for his people before God. All these were not too busy with their world, they had time to intercede for their world, and their generations were saved from wrath.
If United Nations does not recognize God, if American government does not recognize God, if world leaders deny and ignore the existence and the supremacy of God, how on earth would they openly turn to Him in prayer, now that they have come to their wits end? The world leaders and politicians are not as guilty on this matter as the church leaders, who claimed to speak for God but are busy building their own kingdoms. The world acclaimed church leaders are drunk with excess to the extent that they have lost touch with God. Just take a look at them from the prophetic mirror of Isaiah:
‘His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.’ – Isaiah 56:10 – 11
The church leaders should wake up from their spiritual slumber and stand: stand before God so as to give the world a warning from God, and again stand as to intercede for this sinful world before God. These are the two basic functions of a church leader, not to be busy building his kingdom in a war – torn nations of the world. When your neighbor’s wall is on fire, it becomes your business as a matter of common sense.
A word of prayer from your mouth will go a long way in interceding for our world which is being ravaged with crisis. Do not blame the darkness, if you refuse to light your candle. I have spoken, people get ready; get ready to stand the gap for your land and make this world an abode of peace.
Preparing the Bride,
Segun Tewogbola
