Daniel's Deliverance and Stephen's Stoning - The Prosperity Gospel in Africa and God's Sovereignty in Suffering

We all like to hear stories with 'happy' endings.

When sin came into the world, it destroyed the happy ending.  On an earth level there is no happy ending anymore.

Yet we still desire it.  We know that the damage sin causes isn't 'right' or 'good'.  We long for something more.....and we give eternal praise to our loving Creator who made a way for a 'happy ending' to be returned.  But its not the happy ending of an 'earthly' definition and level - its one far greater and one that enables us to get through the story until then.  

One day there will be a 'happy ending' to surpass all happy endings when our sorrows and suffering will be replaced by joy and peace in the presence of our Saviour in the house of our Father.

But until then, happy endings on an earthly scale are not promised to us.  This earth is under the curse of the fall.  Our world is not perfect.

Unfortunately many churches like to promote the idea that if you come to Christ, everything will go well from then on - no sickness, disability, suffering, poverty etc etc.  Across Africa the Prosperity Gospel has promoted the idea that Christians get immunity not only from eternal suffering, but from present suffering.

But even if we are not part of a Prosperity Gospel context, it is easy to still focus on God's power as being primarily related to our physical life and positive outcomes on this earth.  We 'rejoice' when a disabled child 'beats the odds' and God intervenes in such a way that all the doctor's predictions of disaster don't come to pass. - a Daniel-type Deliverance.  We rejoice when a person gets the news that their cancer is in remission. We rejoice when a long awaited baby is born.  And there is nothing wrong with rejoicing in these circumstances - there would be something wrong if we didn't.

But we have to also be careful that we don't give the impression that God is good and God is answering prayer more when we get 'Daniel Deliverances' than when we see Stephen Stonings.  

We must not simply equate God with the circumstances we see.  

God can use circumstances we see to show His goodness, but God's goodness is far greater than the circumstances we see.  

As human beings living in the circumstances, this is very hard for us to take in at times.  

Circumstances can seem overwhelming.  

But if we focus on what we determine in our wisdom is a 'good' outcome, we run the danger of not doing 'good' to those God wants His 'goodness' to be shared with.  We can overlook those who are discouraged and suffering who need to be reminded and encouraged with the goodness of God's eternal loving purposes even though they are not seeing any 'Daniel Deliverances' in their life.

A few years back a 'Daniel Deliverance' situation occurred in the church we attended - a baby was born and the birth was a 'mess' to say the least.  It would be a miracle if the baby survived but the prognosis wasn't good.  He lived.  Not only did he live but apart from needing spectacles early on, there is hardly anything to suggest he had such a traumatic start to life.  Everyone rejoiced. His mum wrote a book sharing how good God was as He answered their prayers.

Yes God did deliver Daniel from the mouths of lions, but then Scripture also records Stephen's stoning. There was no deliverance.  He died from those stones.  God didn't divert them or paralyse the hands that tried to throw them or enable Stephen's body to remain undamaged by them.

I have just read a blog about another Mum who's son was also born with a bad prognosis.  She prayed and believed God could heal and enable her son to 'beat the odds'.  But years later he still hasn't beaten any odds.  We have dear friends who had two sons and both developed a genetic degenerative condition and died before they reached 25 - they didn't 'beat the odds'.  Another friend has a son with cerebral palsy and is still changing his nappies/diapers in his 20s - he hasn't 'beaten the odds'.

As I write this blog from my horizontal position while others enjoy the freedom of walking around at the shops or taking a walk through the bush, I am reminded that God was no less God at Stephen's stoning than He was at Daniel's Deliverance.  He was still working His purposes.

As my doctor starts asking me questions about menopause and has never had the need to ask me questions yet about how a pregnancy is progressing, I am reminded that God is still God whatever His purposes are.  Circumstances might not be my choosing but God isn't limited by what humans determine are good 'outcomes'.

Instead, God is working for His great eternal outcomes.  

He is working for the healing of souls from sin, not just the healing of bodies from disease and disability.  

He knows that a soul that trusts Christ in this life is saved from sin and thus automatically rescued from physical suffering in eternity.  But a body that is rescued from physical suffering in this life is not automatically saved from sin and death eternally. He doesn't enjoy seeing His creation suffer, and Jesus spent much of His earthly years healing people's bodies, but God has a higher priority than the temporal.

We need to be very careful when we rejoice with those who thank God for relief from physical suffering, that we explain the 'full story' in the process of preaching and discipleship .  

We need to make sure we focus on more than the 'physical' needs of people in our praise and in our prayer.

Some of you are probably familiar with the movie 'Facing the Giants'  - its a great movie in many ways, but while I rejoice for the many women who praise the Lord for answered prayer for a child, I feel for the many women who, like myself,  know that the gift of a child is not simply a result of our 'prayer', because they have prayed many prayers and still there is no child. 

Prayer is dependancy on God no matter what the outcomes, not manipulation of God to achieve our outcomes.  

So many around us here in Africa are yet to understand that.  

Prayer is not a ritual with magic powers.  Prayer is resting in the sovereignty of His Majesty the King of Kings.

In prayer and praise let's be sure to rejoice in God's purposes even when circumstances 'go wrong'.

Let's teach people in word and example to pray, trust, rejoice and rest in God's sovereignty no matter what the circumstances.

Both Daniel and Stephen entrusted themselves in prayer to their Creator for His purposes.  Their earthly circumstance 'outcomes' people saw, were different at the time.  But their eternal outcomes were the same.....they both died physically (Daniel still died at a later date) and they both live eternally.....and I look forward to meeting both of them in the resurrection!

And as a PS...we might think a Stoning is not deliverance, or a child that 'doesn't beat the odds' isn't deliverance, or infertility is not deliverance, but ultimately as Christians we are part of the greatest deliverance of history - Christ died for us.  

He brought eternal deliverance!  And the ability this gives us to rejoice in Christ's work and the Father's purposes no matter what the circumstances, is a greater deliverance. 

We are delivered from being defined and directed by our circumstances.  

We are part of a greater story than just what we see during our small window of time on this earth.

As the Mum in the blog mentioned above, said " Deliverance hasn't come from our circumstances.  But God doesn't need Calvin [her son's name] to beat the odds in order to prove his goodness, faithfulness, power and salvation. Our weakness is precisely what he is using to show his power and presence."

Flooding Rain, Full Dam and the President's Call to Thanksgiving

The Gaborone Dam is officially FULL!…for the first time in 16 years!

AND

it was so encouraging to see so many comments on the Water Utilities Facebook page urging the country to give praise and thanks to God for the rain.

AND

it was then very encouraging to have a friend send us the photo below of the letter from the Botswana President to the the people of Botswana.

"Pula" is the Setwana word for rain and also the name of the national currency.  There is a great awareness in a desert that without rain, without water, you can't live.

Although there is now the risk of the Gaborone Dam overflowing and the National Disaster Management team and the Botswana Defence Force are on stand-by for evacuation of houses, the country is rejoicing.

We give thanks for a President who sees that it is only fitting and right to call his country to give thanks to God!

As the country gives thanks, we pray that many will come to not only give thanks for the water that comes from the rain to fill dams, but to also know what it means to give thanks for the Living Water that comes from the giver of Life to fill hearts to overflowing and not an overflowing that causes evacuations all around but that brings blessing all around!

Rejoice with us here in Botswana for God's abundant and gracious provision!

Do missionaries still live in mud huts?

It's a good question.

Yes some may.  But we don't.

Although the photo at the top of our blog depicts mud huts of the Kalahari, and we currently live in a stone house with a thatch roof, up until a couple of years ago we lived in fully cement brick houses with a metal or tile roof.

In this 21st Century where Westernisation has almost permeated every corner of the globe to one degree or another, two factors influence the fact that we don't live in a mud hut.

1. Most locals don't live in mud huts anymore

- many see 'mud huts' as old fashioned and almost shameful.  Most don't understand the benefits of mud walls and thatch roofs for cooling in a hot desert climate.  They just want the prestige of 'modern', and something that doesn't burn down so easily, is easier to keep clean, doesn't need a roof to be replaced so often, and that is more secure.  Even in villages, locals want to upgrade their homes to cement brick walls and metal or tile roofs even if its just a tiny house.  And they want plumbing in their houses, flushing toilets, electricity and satellite TV.

Even out in the Kalahari desert, local folk want to 'upgrade' from a mud-hut to a plastered cement block house.

2. We are essentially missionaries in an urban context

- there has been a huge urban migration in Africa and Botswana is no exception.  More than half Botswana's population live in urban centres and 25% of the population live in the capital city greater area.

Urban context missions might sound quite cushy.  Going to 'darkest Africa to live in a mud hut' was maybe once the picture people had in their minds when they thought of the word 'missionary'.  Living in a 3 bedroom western style home or apartment maybe doesn't have the same 'traditional' idea of how a missionary lives.  

On my 21st birthday some friends gave me a set of pretty doilies for my dressing table with a note that they were so that wherever I ended up in the world I could have something pretty and feminine - even in a mud-hut.  I appreciated their thoughtfulness but they have never been used in mud-hut.

There certainly is a mind-set that has a strong connection between missionaries and rural village contexts, but as the world changes, so does missions.  Whether a person lives in a mud hut and ploughs a field during the day or lives in an inner-city apartment and works in an office all day doesn't determine whether or not they are eligible to hear the gospel or not.

Living in an urban cross-cultural context, doesn't however automatically remove cross-cultural stress or the challenges of living in a 'developing' country.  

Some things to keep in mind:

• Urbanisation also doesn't eliminate traditional beliefs, practices and religion across the country.  Witchdoctors still exist, family honour is still strong and traditional practices and rituals continue as much as possible and cultural taboos are still avoided in most situations.  
• Many locals who live in the urban areas are also only there because of work and don't see the city as 'home' - everyone has a 'home village'.  If you want to really get to know someone, you don't ask where they live...in fact that's a question that will only elicit a confused look.  The two questions to ask are: Where do you stay? and What is your home village?
• There are of course definite influences of urbanisation and effects of exposure to the world outside of the village (through travel and media and education), which mean that some people hang onto traditional ways less strongly than others.  

But with the West pushing the idea of 'don't lose culture' and the local traditions having deep societal roots, under the appearance of westernisation there is still a great deal of tradition. It's just not as obvious.

And that doesn't make it easier - in some ways it makes it harder.  

We can be lulled into a false view of the culture and miss underlying motives and values. 

So what is it like as a 21st Century missionary, particularly in an urban setting, and what should prayer-partners pray for?

In some up-coming blogs I hope to answer such questions.  But for now remember just two things:

1. Missionaries are still normal people with normal joys and normal struggles.

2. Missionaries still do face some unique challenges

And in both areas we value your prayers and support whether we live in a mud hut or not!