The Lord is righteous; for I have rebelled against His commandment; hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.
Lamentations 1:18

Today, we move to the book of Lamentations, which follows the book of Jeremiah. Note that it was also written by Jeremiah. It was a documentation of the sorrowful aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem.

The acknowledgment of its fault by Jerusalem that God was righteous but it was the one that rebelled against God is a big deal. After years of self-righteous haughtiness, it was now acknowledging it was wrong when it was too late and it had been destroyed. What a waste! It was all avoidable.

What struck me this morning is the description of its young women and men going into captivity due to its numerous sins. It reminded me of Nigeria. It is sad: During slavery, people were forcefully moved out of their communities to serve in foreign lands. Today, these same people willingly move themselves to those foreign lands to do slave-like jobs so as to give their families better life back home in Nigeria. It is so sad.

I had to congratulate someone yesterday when she informed me that she was no longer in Nigeria. I had to because any other reaction would have been considered a manifestation of witchcraft.

But let’s ask ourselves this, Is #japa really the answer? I made a whole video on this, which I posted on my YouTube channel. Ask yourself, will running away fix things? Can you really turn your back on the country of your birth? Can you take everyone you love along with you?

This is not to claim that Nigeria’s challenges are not real. This is to switch our perspective to that of fighting for our country from being doomed because we know that we have no other one. People whose mindset says they have nowhere else to go will call the bluff of the corrupt politicians and defend the integrity of their country so that they can build a legacy for their children.

However, presently, most people think it is not their concern. What they need to do is to get out the seemingly burning house called Nigeria. They forget that if those whose country they are seeking sojourn in didn’t fight to preserve a legacy for their children, there would be no place to run to!

Nonetheless, we can change course. We start with accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal Saviour. Let’s acknowledge our fault like Jerusalem so that God can make a way for us in order to change our fortune! We can do it! After all, we are Nigerians!

Jesus is Lord!

repentance

mercy

japa

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