Category Archives: Youth Talk

Living in the Knowledge of His presence

by oafak

OA Fakinlede, Oda, April 7, 2024

16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” ESV Genesis 28:16-17
“16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. 17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven”. KJV Genesis 28:16-18
Jacob, having cheated his brother, was on the run for his life. Tired, he saw what he thought was an ordinary place by the wayside. Unlike us, he did not get a good pillow – he had to make do with a stone! But the night was eventful. He saw a mighty vision in the night. Angels of God were ascending and descending and he received a promise – not just of protection, but about mighty acts of God that transcended his immediate problems. By the time he woke up, he had a completely different perception of the extra-ordinariness of the place! “The Lord is in this place! And I did not know!”
11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! Genesis 28:11-12
When he knew of God’s presence, what was his opinion of the place? “Dreadful”! “Awesome”!
One baffling thing about the present religious climate in Nigeria is the “arifin” of God. In the new testament, simply falsifying the account of what they gave to God caused the death of Brother Annanias and Sister Sapphira! (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 5) The presence was awful, it was dreadful! It was not trivial! It was awesome!
The presence of the Lord with the travelling Israelites to the promised land was as mighty as it was awesome! It was a shade during the hot day sun, it was a defence and fire in the night. Awesome!
We cannot demand the presence of God! We are too unworthy to even ask! Imagine that I wish that the governor of Ondo State to have his presence with me when I am going to the market. Can I go and ask him to follow me? Maybe his assistants will think I was mad to even contemplate that! But it will be a different matter if Mr Aiyedatiwa, of his own accord, decided to follow me to the market! Jesus said “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I will be among them!” Matt 18:20. It was His idea, not ours. Otherwise, it would have been preposterous!
There are several issues to consider about our being in the presence of God. Two of these will be discussed today: Being in God’s presence worthily, and being conscious of it! Are we not most frequently like Jacob? The Lord was there, he was not aware.

He’s got his eyes on you
He’s got his eyes on you
My Lord, sitting in His kingdom,
He’s got his eyes on you!

I will not be a liar, I tell you the reason why
Cause my Lord might call me,
And I wouldn’t be ready to die.
He’s got his eyes on you …”Hypocrite”, “Cheater”, etc.

Backtrack to the passages given by the reverend for this occasion. There are six of them. When I printed them out. They occupied four pages! If I were to simply read them, they would take the time! But I guess he wants me to do better than that. I will therefore base this message on only one of these passages.

“1 I will bless the Lord at all times
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD:
the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened:
and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him,
and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encampeth
round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
8 O taste and see that the LORD is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints:
for there is no want to them that fear him.
10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:
but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing”. Psalms 34:1-10

First three verses here are our lead and watchword every communion service and Hymn 290: Through all the changing scenes of life

1. Through all the changing scenes of life
In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.
2. Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
With me exalt His name;
When in distress to Him I called,
He to my rescue came.
3. The hosts of God encamp around
The dwellings of the just;
Deliverance He affords to all
Who on His succor trust.
4. Oh, make but trial of His love,
Experience will decide
How blest they are, and only they,
Who in His truth confide.
5. Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then
Have nothing else to fear;
Make you His service your delight,
Your wants shall be His care.

We shall conclude this morning message by focussing on verse 5. How many times does the word “fear” occur in the Bible? 437 times!
Did you know that God commanded us not to fear 366 times in the bible? There is a “Fear not for each day with a spare one for the leap year.
Did you also know that the reason God gave that we may not fear is NOT because bad things cannot happen to us? The quality of faith is not in the avoidance of evil. It is instead in the hierarchy of the evil. “iku ti o pa ni, t’o ba si ni ni fila, ka maa dupe”! Some things are worse than others!
In verse 5 the poet drew powerfully on that thought by telling us whom to fear after which we have nothing left to fear! Matthew 10:28. Fear hath torment (I Jn 4:18-20. Jesus came to destroy all the works of the devil. One of the works of the devil he came to destroy is to free those who through fear are made captive all their lives-Heb 2:15 “and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
One “koko” of the matter of walking in the consciousness of the presence of God is in our not fearing not being afraid. The positive part is in being thankful: two sides of the same coin.
Do you forget the presence of God? You are like Jacob, and you come to know it intermittently? Do you fear for your life? Are you in bondage by the fear of death?

You are not alone! I fear like you also.

1. Come to the realization
2. Know that God has a cure
3. Thankfulness can help us practice the presence of God. It helps us know that God is near us, that He is with us.
4. We can grow. We do not have to go from bad to worse. We can be better. We can know God better. And feel him better. And be more obedient.
5. It is a choice to move in that direction; or the opposite!

Excellency in Today’s Terms

by oafak

If you are already a university student or a graduate, please also read The Set of 2020 article on this site.
Dateline 1965.
What were my 9-year-old ears hearing from the common Rediffusion of those days?

“Bata re a dun ko ko ka
Bi o ba ka’we re,
Bata re a dun ko ko ka.
Bi o ko ba ka’we re,
Bata re adun pelebe pelebe pelebe!”

This erstwhile popular song must be nuanced and given context for it to make sense. First, what was “Reddifusion”? In 1965, believe me, there were no smartphones. Akure had some electricity but even in homes, like mine, that had a little access, it was mainly for lighting. Some people had “Transistor Radios” but most of those used dry-cell batteries. Hotels and beer parlors often had loudspeakers playing songs in the streets. I learnt most of the popular songs of that time on the streets from kind Parlor owners that broadcast IK Dairo, Haruna Isola, Jim Reeves, Ogunde, Olaiya, Roy Chicago, etc., as you passed by their buildings on the way to my father’s shop!
The government of that time had this little box that talked all day and was wired into all subscribing households. It was like a wired radio set to a single frequency. The little box was called “Rediffusion” or Asoromagbesi in Yoruba. It was such a clever idea. For a little monthly fee, each household could be connected to government programs, hear the latest news, listen to some music and adverts. That was perhaps the first idea of Power-over Ethernet, popular today, as it did not require you to have electricity in your house.
At that time, the young school child was taught that education will allow him to climb the social ladder and become “important”, “successful”, etc. by studying very hard at school. Our ideal in 1965 was the middle-level civil servant that wore covered shoes. Most of our parents: farmers, traders, cleaners, etc., wore slippers. The above song therefore counsels you to study hard (Ka iwe re) so that you will wear covered shoes that make the sounds “ko ko ka”. If you failed in school, you will either be like your parents – wearing slippers or become a servant. That is why your footwear will sound “pelebe, pelebe pelebe”.
My mother, having no school education herself, was waiting for me to return home from school with my result at the term’s end. Unfortunately, she could not read the result herself. She would not listen to whatever I told her about my result. She waited for a civil servant tenant to pass by. Such people will be called “Akowe” in those days. My report card will be given to an Akowe and he would explain my grades subject by subject to mama. And mama had ready, a spanking rod or a bowl of delicious food – usually rice and stew. Which one I got, depended on the interpretation given to my report card by the Akowe.
Now that we have an idea of what that song said, let us study the philosophy that drove people of that era.

1. It was not your duty to build your society. Just read your books and take the place of a civil servant to maintain the colonial structure built by the British.
2. The social order is fixed, just find your place or seek to move higher.
3. Your ticket is your paper certificate.
4. Nothing else matters!

In the next 60 years, the philosophical underpinning of our society values created a Nigerian mindset that is perpetually seeking paper qualifications. In secondary school, our chemistry book taught us topics such as the Fractional Distillation of Crude Oil as well as the Blast Furnace manufacture of Iron from Ore. We were taught the Saponification process of soap making as well as fermentation process in alcohol manufacture. Even the sanitation of our environment to prevent mosquitoes from biting us to the direction of flood waters to safely drain our water are all known to us in secondary schools.
Why do adult Nigerians develop zero inquisitiveness to find how these can be used to create products and services so to make a better living around themselves? Can the answer not be found in the fact that your duty – your bounden duty was to repeat these processes to the teacher at the end of term and collect your grades for promotion to the next class? Was the goal not only to get the Civil Service job so that “Bata re a dun ko ko ka?” Was there any other incentive?
I had the opportunity to ask my children to repeat SS3 in Canada after finishing here in Nigeria. Ireti’s comments comparing Physics and Chemistry as taught to final year secondary school students in Nigeria and Canada opened my eyes! The people here learn more chemistry theory and principles with much more mathematics than the Canadian school leaver. But the purposes are different! The little the Canadian child learns is orchestrated to produce something! The plenty the Nigerian child learns is CPPF (Cram, Pour, Pass, and Forget).
In Abuja, I observed that several young women that had completed the NYSC opened hair dressing salons along the roadside behind my house. I sometimes used the rear entrance and observed that they threw hair remnants and used threads into the drain – creating a good habitat for mosquitoes to thrive. These mosquitoes bite them, and they fall sick. And most of them are post NYSC – some of whom taught Biology and ecology during their service years!
Conclusion: Excellence in today’s terms is not merely “Academic” in the CPPF format of your parents! Of course, you still need to pay attention and succeed. But it is not enough! It is a mistake to imagine that it is when you reach university that you will learn what is needed to survive in society! Primary and secondary education are far more important than university education! You need to start early to develop excellency in skills and seek how to be productive using knowledge as early as possible! There are enormous opportunities to be creative that you are missing right now. Find out about them and stop doing “Bata re a dun ko ko ka”!