Every generation and civilization comes up with their own specific issues and challenges. Most time, these issues flows from one generation to another and in most cases take a more dramatic form in the next generation. Somehow it seems that there will always be issues and strange challenges confronting man-kind. As we take a look at our own present situation we see a lot of these issues and some of them are coming up in alarming proportions. The proportion of child molestation at present is far greater that anything we have ever seen. Divorce rate is spiraling to the roof. I did not use to hear about kidnapping until a few years ago but now it is as if it is everywhere. Ritual killings somehow came out of nowhere but it is attaining an alarming proportion and somehow it seems as if no one has a solution on how to deal with it effectively. Cultism is gradually creeping into our streets, rape cases are increasing. Spousal abuse is on the increase; abuse of both male and female. The rate of crime is gradually climbing every day in spite of the acquisitions of modern crime fighting apparatus the list goes on and on.
Not long ago when people graduate from the university they usually come out excited because they were assured of good employment and a good livelihood but that is not the situation now. Most people who came out of our universities were competent in doing what they went there to learn however we now see a lot of professed graduates who cannot write a good composition or even a letter. Yet, almost every one of them wants to become a star. They have such lofty dreams but no firm foundation or structures to build them on. The core values of respect, brotherly kindness, hard work, sharing, caring, excellence, diligence, faithfulness, integrity are suddenly given way to other things. Yet there seem to be no solutions to dealing with all of these things. Somehow one wonders “how did we get here?” What went wrong? Who went wrong?
Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey:
and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
And he saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no intercessor:
therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. Isa:59:15-16
From the above scripture it becomes clear that man is not the only one wondering. God is also wondering. While many people are asking “God where are you?” God is wondering, because this was not supposed to be His duty, someone was designed to take care of all of these types of issues. God has been waiting for that being to show-up; He is even amazed that the being is nowhere to be found.
The Scripture says that “truth faileth;” What is truth? Truth describes the way things were supposed or designed tobe. It describes the original purpose of a thing or a situation. It also describes the revealed vision. So, purpose and vision are failing daily on our streets, in our homes, in our institutions and in our society. The failures of these are taking its toll on all and even God is saddened about it.
What seem to be prevailing on the other hand are lies, falsehood and evil. Corruption is almost an institution of its own. It is as if it is now the order of the day. It is so wide spread that it will take a very considerable effort to live outside the systems that it has created. You will basically need to fight and sometimes go through undue difficulties not to get involved in it. It is becoming so prevalent that you will look like a strange person if you are not practicing it, in fact people around you might just look at you as if you are a fool. Those practicing it seem to be the ones more or less “eating the good of the land.” This flows very well with what the scripture says “he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey:”
For the righteous man, this is a disheartening situation and for God it is even more disturbing. The most disheartening thing however is that the being created to take care of this issue is nowhere to be found. And because he is nowhere to be found the scripture says that “and it displeased him that there was no judgment”; It displeased God that there was no judgment. If this being was around then definitely judgment would have been around because it was created specifically to deliver the right judgment. Judgment talks about the right counsel and procedure, the correct process, systems and structures. In other words the right counsel, procedures, systems, structures, mindset, are not in place. According to this scripture all things that are going wrong is primarily because of these. This means that if they were available then marriages would not fail just like that. Crimes would be almost out of the streets or at least minimized, Corruption would beunder control, same goes for all other societal ills.
God has a very clear picture of who the being is and this is what the scripture says:”And he saw that there was no man”. The being is called man. How surprising! I thought that I am a man; I believe that I see many men around me every day. Every nation is made up of a lot of males who are actually part of the cause of all the ills in their society, how come God says that the being that was supposed to take care of issue is the man. He even went further to say that “there was no man”. Does that mean that being a male alone does not qualify one as a man? Does a man have other attributes than what we know? I thought a man is a male who can fend for himself, has a house of his own or can rent one and in some cases have a car and probably a wife to complement him.
However, if God the one that created everything says “there was no man” then our definition of who a man actually is must be wrong and until we get it correct it is possible that all our societal ills will never really come down to a sizeable forms. Until we get it right we might all just be going round in circles thinking we know who we are and what we are doing. The danger with this is that instead of being part of the solution to the issues affecting our societies we might just be a part of the problems, if not the real problem itself.
The other thing that is noteworthy about this scripture is that, though there were strange issues and God says the reason why they persisted was because there was no man but one other thing became very worrisome. The scripture says “and wondered that there was no intercessor:” To put it plainly. God was saying that it was bad enough that there was no man but even worse was the fact that there was no intercessor.
It would have been nice if the man was there in the first instance because he would have found solutions: that marriage would not have failed, that child would not have become a criminal, that business would have thrived and be a blessing to many people, etc. in spite of the fact that these did not happen God still expected that someone would have taken the responsibility to make things right. Someone would have pushed for the solution and do all they can to ensure that there is restoration. People should not have given up and start settling for what is less. People should have fought for the heritage that was delivered to them, they should have valued that inheritance and privileges God gave them and gone back to God for the appropriate solutions (either God doing it Himself or sending the right type of wisdom and structure needed for the restoration).
However, people were willing to trade these precious values for momentary satisfactions. They were okay for as long as it did not affect them much: as long as their head was still a little bit above the waters; for as long as they can still get something to eat and feed their families with. For as long as they can still buy a car and status clothes, they were okay. The society is fast drifting into oblivion and people are just okay to find a little space for themselves not reckoning that soon they might also become victims of the things they are seemingly nonchalant about, right now.
There were no intercessors. If there were them somehow the man also would have probably emerged from wherever he was. There was no intercessor, if not the solutions would have started to show forth gradually. An intercessor is someone who has the standing and status to operate as one. An intercessor is one who has authority to come before the powers; anyone cannot just show up as an intercessor. An intercessor knows the powers; knows the situations and can relate with the people who he is interceding for. An intercessor is skillful in intercession. He is patient, meek, knows how to listen and also knows how to place his words. An intercessor has grace and knows that there is a solution and that the solution is obtainable. An intercessor gives himself for the cause. Mahatma Ghandi was an intercessor; he gave himself for the cause of one India. Dr. Martin Luther King Junior was an intercessor, he gave himself for the cause of apartheid, Mary Slessor was an intercessor, Mother Theresa was an intercessor. Nelson Mandela was an intercessor. History is replete with intercessors that gave their lives for different causes and never looked back until they got solutions.
If all of these were just intercessor then who is the man that God created: what is his description? What are his configurations? What will be his mindset? What are his authority structures? What are his outlooks towards life?
From our discussions so far we can pick a few things about this man.
- He knows how to acquire counsel from source.
- The man is a person of structures, systems and procedure
- He must be someone that understands purpose and vision.
- He must be strategic and futuristic in His outlook
- He is selfless and live for something greater than himself (other than himself)
- He must occupy a vantage position in order to identify issues and take care of them even before they show forth.
The sad truth is that until we understand the identity of this man and also make sure that we are of the same configuration and orientation, we will not be able to understand or achieve purpose. We will not be able to run our marriages effectively and efficiently. We will not be able to raise a formidable next generation neither will we be able impact and influence our society positively. This understanding will change our mindset and orientation. Give us a new outlook into life; give us a fresh definition of what this life is and what our expectations should be. It will change our drive and motivation.
