It is possible for a believer to listen to divine messages and still miss out on God’s best, especially for those who rationalise divine instructions, a cleric has said.
These are the words of Pastor Bayo Adeyinka, while preaching on the topic: “Don’t miss out on the Grace of God,” at Charis Family international Church, Cultural Centre road, Mokola, Ibadan, on the occasion of its “Charis Day” celebration.
Pastor Adeyinka, a top banker and resident pastor of the Lagos branch of the church, at Opebi, Ikeja, in his sermon with biblical text from Hebrews 12:15, said rationalisation of divine message complicates decision for a believer.
He explained further while making reference to the biblical story of Barak and Jael in the book of Judges 4 and 5, on how God instructed Barak to engage in battle between Mount Tabor and the Kishon River.
Tabor, he said means “choice,” while Kishon means “difficult,” which as he explained implies that “when we receive a word from God, we have a choice on what to do with it and the choices can be difficult sometimes.”
According to him, “The devil will give us several reasons to rationalise divine instructions like Barak.
However, he said “The moment Barak held back, grace swung into action and located Jael,” hence, not to miss out of God’s plans, there is need to yield to instructions and work according to plans.
On how Barak missed out of divine arrangement, Pastor Adeyinka said in preparation for the battle, Barak had 10,001 men, but all Jael had was a bottle of milk.
Tough with his name Barak, which means ‘lightning,’ he said Barak had an appearance of success but he fell short,” unlike Jael, whose name he said meant ‘a mountain goat’ which he said made her look least likely to succeed and also bearing in mind that she was just a domestic wife of a tent maker.
As a result, he said “grace is inexplicable as it was impossible to explain why grace chose Jael,” but stated that “grace places an individual at the right place at the right time.”
To buttress this, he quoted from the Living Bible Translation of Ecclesiastes 9:11, which states: “Again I looked throughout the earth and saw that the swiftest person does not always win the race, nor the strongest man the battle, and that wise men are often poor, and skillful men are not necessarily famous; but it is all by chance, by happening to be at the right place at the right time.”
Hence, he said grace does not consider ability or capacity, but grace only considers availability, adding that “a bottle of milk in the hands of a woman of grace is far more potent than weapons of war.”
Barak, according to him had all the energy but Jael had the strategy, whereas, grace gives one the right strategy, hence, he said: “When you have the right strategy, vain efforts are minimized. You go straight to the answer.
“Grace makes you know exactly what to do. Jael wasn’t confused. She didn’t go looking for her husband or help from neighbours. Ordinarily, she couldn’t stand up to Sisera on her own.”
Pastor Adeyinka said God gave specific instructions to the effect that the 10,000 men should be drawn from just two tribes, Naphtali and Zebulun, adding that “Naphtali means struggle or strife and that what 10,000 men couldn’t do by struggle or strife, one woman achieved by grace.”
He submitted that “grace makes the ordinary look extraordinary as Jael used an ordinary peg and hammer which are implements she used for her domestic tasks to achieve a national victory.
The grace, he said places Jael above the situation and distinguished he, even in the midst of adversaries.
Jael, he said was called blessed above other women, distinguishing her in the like of the mother of Jesus Christ, Mary, who with Jael, he said are the only two people called “blessed above other women” in the Scriptures.
Pastor Adeyinka, closing with Hebrews 4:16, thereby warned about missing out on the grace of God, saying: “While grace can locate someone, one can also find grace.”
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