पैसा नै सबै थोक रहेछ!

गरिबीले मानिसलाई धेरै पटक धोका दिन्छ। यसको चपेटामा परेको व्यक्तिलाई लाग्न सक्छ कि आफूसँग सोचे जति सम्पत्ति भैदिएको भए जीवनका सारा समस्याहरू सजिलै समाधान हुनेथिए।  बाइबलले पनि कता कता यस्तै विचारलाई समर्थन गरेको जस्तो लाग्छ। राजा सोलोमन भन्छन्; “पैसाले नै हर कुरा सुल्झाउँछ” (उपदेशक १०.१९), अर्थात, सबै कुराको उत्तर पैसामा नै छ।  “धनले धेरै मित्र बनाउँछ, तर गरीब मानिसको मित्रले उसलाई त्याग्छ”, “गरीब मानिस आफ्ना सबै आफन्तहरूबाट त्यागिन्छ” (हितोपदेश १९.४, ७)। 

सोलोमनका यी भनाइहरू मानव अनुभवका वस्तविकतामा आधारित छन्। यी कुराहरूलाई प्रमाणित गर्न हामीले अन्त कतै हेर्नु पर्दैन; हाम्रो आफ्नै जीवनमा, हाम्रै मित्रहरू र परिवारमा दैनिक घटिरहेका घटनाहरूलाई सोलोमनले व्यक्त गरेका हुन्। उपदेशकको पुस्तकभरि नै सोलोमन भन्छन् “आकाशमुनि सबै कुरा व्यर्थै छन्” र निष्कर्षमा स्वीकार गर्छन् कि “परमेश्वरको भय र आज्ञापालन” आकाशभन्दा माथिका कुराहरू हुन्।  त्यसकारण यिनै कुराहरूमा लाग्नु मानिसको निम्ति लाभदायक हुनेछ कारण एक दिन परमेश्वरको सामु आकाशमुनि गरेका सबै कामको लेखा मानिसले दिनुपर्नेछ। मित्र कमाएका वा गुमाएका, परिवारले स्वीकारेका वा इन्कारेका, सबै थोकको उत्तर पाए पनि नपाए पनि, ती सबै कुरा क्षणिक र आकाशमुनि नै रहने कुराहरू हुन्। तर ती कुराहरूसँग संसारमा रहुन्जेलसम्म हाम्रो सम्बन्ध जस्तो थियो, त्यसको लेखा आकाशमाथि परमेश्वरको सामु हामीले एकदिन दिनै पर्नेछ। सोलोमनले उपदेशकको पुस्तकको अन्तमा दिएको निष्कर्ष गरीब र धनी दुवैका लागि महत्त्वपूर्ण छ।

Do You Have God's Presence in Your Life?

Have you ever come to a place and time in your life where you longed for God's presence but somehow his presence remains to be a mental memory instead of an experiential reality? You go to church but church becomes a burden.  You want to fast and pray but at the end of your fasting and prayer, all you get is a sense of burden and confusion.  You try to share the gospel but there is no zeal.  You preach your sermons but they are no longer touching the lives of those who come to listen.  You want to be a good person, a loving person, but time and again you end of hurting the very people who love you. Your family, friendships, and fellowship with others continue to suffer.  It has been so long that you really remember God answering your prayers.  You experience this dryness but somehow fail to put your finger on the real cause of this dryness.  Even when you do your personal devotion, there is no refreshing from the Lord.  

Check Your Alliances

Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah and son of Asa, was one of the godliest kings in the history of Israel as a nation, and is rightly considered to be a great hero of faith.  His reign of 25 years is marked with God’s blessings of peace, prosperity, protection, divine interventions and victory over enemies.  He was a tender hearted man whose spirit longed for God’s guidance in private and public life.  However, he had one weakness.  The weakness of Jehoshaphat was his tendency of forging alliances with wicked men whose hearts were against God. 

Ahab was the most wicked king of Israel and his two sons, Ahaziah and Jehoram, followed in his footsteps.  The wickedness of the house of Ahab was well known throughout Judah and Israel; two of the greatest prophets, Elijah and Elisha, confronted this evil household.  But Jehoshaphat, with full knowledge of the wickedness of the house of Ahab, forged a marriage alliance with them and later engaged in allied warfare with common enemies. 

The first time Jehoshaphat aligned with Ahab, he was nearly killed.  Later when he aligned with the sons of Ahab, nothing he planned ever succeeded; one time he returned from the battle with disgust and second time lost all the investment he made into building a maritime fleet of ships.  The entire fleet was destroyed without ever making a single sail. 

The lessons for us to learn from a godly person like Jehoshaphat is that we must not make little of the sins of our friends whose hearts are bent on manipulating God’s grace into material gains.  I am witnessing some of my godly friends standing shoulder to shoulder with pastors, missionaries, and namesake Christians who have made a name for themselves with immorality, financial corruption and outright lies and deceptions in missions.  Instead of standing on the truth and demanding holiness and integrity of character, these godly men and women are being coerced into accepting such ungodly people into their fellowship either for material gain or for the temptation of being put into the place of position in their corrupt organizations.  Not that we should not reach out to them but to do so without ever pointing out their wickedness is to do what Jehoshaphat did with Ahab and nearly paid the price.  The church of Jesus Christ is in need of a Micaiah (1K. 22:14) and an Elisha (2K. 3:14) who stood up to Ahab and Jehoram in front of Jehoshaphat and rebuked them of their wickedness, and a Jehu (2Chr. 19:2) who stood up to Jehoshaphat in declaring God’s displeasure for his alliance with Ahab and Jehoram.  Ahab and his household perished in their wickedness but the Lord was gracious to Jehoshaphat and relented his wrath because Jehoshaphat realized his mistakes and remained faithful to the Lord his God for the rest of his days. 

Be friend of all but don’t make light of the wickedness of your friends least you be an equal partner in their wickedness.