IF IT HADN’T BEEN THE LORD WHO WAS ON MY SIDE …
"If the Lord had not been on our side let Israel say. If the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away." (NIV) Psalm 124:1-5
I remember during my high school days, I would take ill almost every time exam is approaching. It was becoming like a normal acceptable way of life. As a freshman at the university, I missed one of my papers because of ill health. The slightest bite of the anopheles mosquito and malaria came knocking my door. Aside the anxiety borne out from perhaps a problem of inadequate preparation (which all students contend with no matter how much one has prepared), my other fear was a feeling that an ill health was looming once exam is approaching. My mind was conditioned to accept that fate. Interestingly, I remember on one occasion I went to see my sister, a medical laboratory technician, to take a sample of my blood and stool for a rapid diagnosis test. My sister looked at me in amazement and retorted: “What makes you think you are sick?”
Today, perhaps the question will be: “Why have you become so healthy?” As I hack back, I can confidently say that for the past three days I have stayed cleared of any malaria drug: paracetamol, artesunate ammodiaquinne, what have you. God has been so good to me. The wonders in my health are only a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the goodness of God. As head of a Junior High School, it can be very busy. Yet this year, I enrolled as an ACCA student, a part time student at the Ghana Bible College and an online student of Microsoft Certification Programmes. In spite of these demanding disciplines, I am still vibrant and I have lots of energy to work in the vineyard of the Lord. As a sign language interpreter I have worked extensively with the deaf at my local congregation.
Beloved, I can keep on recounting the goodness of God. Those that have fizzled out of memory far outstrip those I can readily recollect. God has been so good.
We may have every cause to lament and ponder over life’s challenges. However, the gift of life must steer us up into counting our blessings and name them one by one. As we acknowledge the goodness of the Lord, he inhabits the praises of his people and so desires to do more for us in the coming years. The Lord indeed has been good to us and he deserves all our thanks and praises. No matter what difficulty we might have gone through in the year, let’s take some time to also reflect on the goodness of the Lord and exclaim “if it hadn’t been the Lord who was on my side …”