Why Sit We Here?

Good morning. I welcome all of you in the name of our Lord and precious Savior Jesus Christ. My prayer is that the word that pertains to you, you will receive it to profit you and your families in Jesus' mighty name.

The Crisis in Samaria

This morning I'll be sharing with you a sermon titled "Why Sit We Here?" Our text is the book of 2 Kings chapter 7—the whole chapter. To understand the context, we need to look at the latter part of 2 Kings chapter 6.

After King Benhadad of Syria gathered his army and besieged Samaria, the city locked its gates. The Syrian strategy was straightforward: station soldiers at the gates and wait for hunger to force the people to surrender. And it worked. A great famine struck Samaria. The text tells us that an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dung for five pieces of silver. There was hyperinflation. Things got so desperate that two women made a pact: they would kill and eat one woman's child, then the other woman's child. When it came time for the second woman to fulfill her part, she refused. Desperate and ashamed, both women went to the king to report what they had done.

The king was horrified. "Have things gotten so bad that people are eating their children?" His advisors were ready to execute the prophet Elisha, blaming him for their suffering.

Then came the word of the Lord through Elisha: "Tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year—tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria."

A lord close to the king challenged this: "Behold, if the Lord will make windows in heaven, might this thing be?" It was impossible. Even if God opened the heavens and poured down food, the prophet's word could never come to pass. This economic advisor had credentials—perhaps a PhD from Harvard. But his expertise blinded him to God's power.

Yet the prophecy stood: "Behold, thou shall see it with thine eyes, but shall not eat thereof."

The Parallel to Nigeria Today

Let's talk about Nigeria a little bit. People are going through so much. Many families are experiencing real difficulties. Most companies have either closed shop or are limping along. Business owners will tell you the environment is harsh. Many have lost their jobs. We graduate over a million young people every year from Nigerian universities—where are we going to put them all? Parents have spent money in foreign exchange to train their children, and now they're back home with no jobs, frustrated.

The take-home pay of most people cannot take them home. Those with jobs are struggling to pay rent, school fees, to put food on the table, even to get to work. I once had a teenage program where a young person wrote to me: "Pastor, I have lost interest in prayer. I'm not sure God is answering prayers in Nigeria anymore. Maybe our sins are too much and it's time for punishment."

Someone told me that in some places in Nigeria, people are kidnapped on okadas, and the kidnappers will call demanding 100,000 naira for their release. It's gotten that bad. They've reduced the amount because they do it regularly.

People are no longer trusting God for miracles. Instead, they're hoping to get lucky by investing in lottery or gambling. All the lottery and gambling companies in Nigeria are making huge profits because people hope that one day they'll suddenly win 10 or 20 million naira. Even teenagers have joined this bandwagon.

Someone said to me, "Pastor, to be honest, I don't know what to do anymore. There were times I went to bed hoping that God would just take me home." They didn't want to commit suicide, but maybe it would be better to just sleep and not wake up. And they asked me: "Pastor, is there hope for Nigeria?"

Our text this morning introduces us to a situation where there was no hope. It's not quite as bad as people eating their children—and I pray it will never happen in Nigeria in Jesus' mighty name—but it was desperate. And into this desperation came four lepers.

The Four Lepers: Situational Analysis

In 2 Kings 7:3-4, we meet these four lepers at the entry of the gate. They said to one another: "Why sit we here until we die? If we say we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore come and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die."

The first thing I want to highlight is what I call situational analysis. Many of us get so busy that we don't take time to review our lives. Someone is 30 years old, working as a clerk with a school certificate, living in a one-bedroom apartment. What are your prospects where you are working? Can you even afford to get married? Can you take care of a family? Is the job even stable?

Or perhaps you're approaching 60. Most companies in Nigeria retire people at 60—some at 55, especially oil companies. But you haven't planned for retirement because the money you were getting wasn't enough. Here's the problem: if the money wasn't enough while you were working, what will you live on when you retire?

I have at least two friends who will soon be doing funeral services for their parents. Both parents died at 90 or 91 years old. If people are living to be 90 and you retire at 60, and God allows you to die at 90, what will you feed on for those 30 years? Most people will spend more time in retirement than in active working life. Retirement today is not like the retirement of previous generations because people live longer. So you need to ask yourself: if I'm planning for long life and good health—and we've been praying for those things—how will I care for myself and my family for 15 or 20 years without working?

Consider also: Can you afford to send all your children overseas? You send the first one and he's doing well in London. But you have three others. If you send the first one and not the others, you're going to have a family crisis. Some family conflicts have started exactly like that: "Daddy sent my sister to London, but when it was my time, he said he didn't have money." You need to check everything out.

Let me tell you a personal story. About 10 or 15 years ago, they were constructing the Leki road. We stayed in VGC, and the traffic got so bad I spent two hours getting to my office in Ecoil and another two hours coming back home. I got tired. One day I told my wife, "Let us get a three-bedroom apartment in Ikoyi where I can stay during the week, and over the weekend I will come home."

We had a board meeting—which was really just me and my wife approving it—and we got a three-bedroom apartment in Banana Island. It was very convenient. I was now spending more time there, so we thought, "Why don't we look for a bigger place?" We moved from the three-bedroom in Banana Island to a four-bedroom in Ikoyi. Nice house.

Then rent became due. It was significant money. We had another board meeting because the property market had softened, and our cash flow wasn't as buoyant as before. My deputy chairman reminded me: "You said you wanted to come to Ikoyi because they were doing road construction. They've nearly finished it now. By the way, you locked up the house in VGC. The house belongs to us. Why do you want to pay this type of rent to somebody else? Let us go back to our house and use part of this money to refurbish it."

Most men don't like those kinds of arguments because we're looking at our ego. What will people say if I move from VGC to Ikoyi and then move back to VGC? But what my deputy chairman was saying made a lot of sense. So we moved back to VGC, used part of the money—not even up to the rent—to refurbish the house and get it ready.

In Nigeria today, you have to make decisions that are in the best interest of your family. If you let ego drive you, you will run into debt and face crisis. It makes no difference. If the market changes and you're better off again, you can go and live on the water if you want to. I'm telling you these stories because when many of you come to me and I give advice, you say, "Pastor doesn't understand." I'm letting you know that I understand what I'm telling you. I'm giving you advice from what I have done to myself.

I was with another senior pastor a few weeks ago. I asked him, "So where do you stay now?" He said, "I stay in Lekki." I knew he used to stay around the Leki area. I said, "Why have you moved?" He said, "My office is in Meada. My wife has a school in Ikoyi. I stay in BCC." He said, "I spent too much time in traffic. So I just borrowed myself some sense. We locked up the house in Lekki and moved to BCC. Power is more regular. Water is flowing. It takes me lesser time than between Lekki. When things improve and change, maybe I might go back to that place, but for now it is locked up."

When you say the country is hard, there are some changes you need to make yourself. You can save money by taking decisions that are in the interest of your family.

I told one family they had a daughter who wanted to study medicine. They were struggling to pay year one fees—year one! Medicine is a long course. I said, "You are struggling to pay year one fees. Year two, you'll be begging again. And by the time she finishes, you won't even know the exchange rate. Why are you punishing yourself?" I advised them to bring her back, and they did. You know what? Today she's a doctor.

You need to look at yourself honestly. No matter how bad things are, or when things change, there are always winners and losers. When the dollar was approaching 2,000 naira, most people complained. "The exchange rate is affecting so many things." That was true. But there were people who were very happy with it. Nigerians who were getting paid in dollars, when they converted to naira at 2,000—they were kings! I was at a business seminar in LP5 where a pastor told me that one of his friends who has a software company was unhappy that the naira is now appreciating. I asked him, "What's your problem?" He said, "When the rates were very high, most Nigerian companies stopped buying foreign software and began patronizing local companies. If the naira appreciates and foreign software begins to compete with us, we might lose our market."

There are always winners and losers. You need to do an analysis—a SWOT analysis. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are the opportunities? What are the threats? How can you position yourself? If you have to take difficult decisions now for the future, take them. At the end of the day, the people you think are looking at you or talking about you—sometimes they're not even thinking about you. They have enough problems of their own.

Everyone Has at Least One Talent

The second thing I want to bring out from this story is that everyone has at least one talent. In Matthew 25:14-29, we have the parable of the talents. The master gave one servant five talents, another two talents, and another one talent. Matthew 25:15 says: "And he gave one five to another two to another one to every man according to his several ability."

He did not give everybody the same. He gave them according to their ability. God has deposited in everyone at least one talent. The lepers in our story were poor. They were hungry. They were dying. They had physical challenges. But they had intelligence. They were not stupid. The lepers were able to analyze their situation.

Look at what the lepers said in verse 4: "If we say we will enter into the city then the famine is in the city and we shall die there. And if we sit here we die also. Now therefore come and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians. If they save us alive we shall live and if they kill us we shall but die."

The lepers broke down their options into three scenarios. First, they could leave their place and go into the city to beg for food. But the city was starving. The people there would not feed them, and the lepers were outcasts anyway. Second, they could do nothing—just stay where they were. But then they would slowly starve to death. Third, they could go to meet the Syrians who were besieging them.

When they analyzed all three options, they realized something: in all the scenarios where they stayed or went to the city, death was certain. But there was one scenario with food—the Syrians had food. If they went to the Syrians, yes, the Syrians might kill them. But the Syrians also might have mercy on them and give them food. So they said, "Look, in all these scenarios, the only scenario that has food is the Syrians. We have nothing to lose. If you stay here, we will die. If you enter the city, we will die. If Syrians kill us, we will die. But if they don't kill us, we will have food. Let us go and meet the Syrians."

As poor as they were, the lepers were not stupid. They did the analysis very well. I'm telling you, there is something God has given you. There is nobody that God has not given something.

In Exodus 4:2, the Lord said to Moses, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "The rod." It was that rod that God used to perform miracles. In 2 Kings 4:2, Elisha asked the widow who said, "They want to take away my sons because we owe money. What do you have?" She said, "I don't have anything but a little oil." He said, "That little oil that you have, God will use it."

There is something that you have that can be used. In 1993, my business had a crisis. We lost a lot of money. I was praying for God to revive the business. One of my friends came to my house and asked, "What are you doing now?" I said, "I'm trusting God for breakthrough." He said, "You're trusting God for breakthrough, but you have no job. You wake up in the house and stay in the house. How are you going to feed your family?"

He asked me, "Don't you have a first degree?" I said, "I do." "Do you have a master's degree?" "Yes." He said, "So what is stopping you from looking for a job?" I said, "Me look for a job? I was chairman and managing director of my company." And he said, "Well, your chairman and managing director company is dead. So dust your CV and look for a job. No matter how little is coming in, it's better than nothing."

After he left, it occurred to me that he made sense. So I dusted my CV, and believe me, I lived on my certificates for many years after. What is it that God has given you? There is nobody that God has not given anything. But you have decisions to make. You need to make those decisions.

Faith Without Works Is Dead

The third point is that faith without works is dead. The lepers did a wonderful analysis. But analysis is just analysis if it's not acted upon. But they did something. Verse 5 of 2 Kings 7 says: "And they rose up in the twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians."

They knew one or two things would happen in the camp of the Syrians. Either the Syrians would kill them, or the Syrians would show them mercy and give them food. But they didn't just sit there analyzing. They rose up in the twilight and went.

Interestingly, when they got to the camp of the Syrians, they found that the Syrians were not there. The Syrians had left. Nobody knew they had left. The lepers found food, they found clothes. They ate, they took clothes, they hid them just in case people came looking. They came back again, and then they began to talk: "We should go and tell the people in the city that the Syrians have left."

Let me tell you something: most of the things that you are afraid of will never happen. I'm sure there are many things we've been afraid of over the years, and when the time came, they never happened. Most of the things you are afraid of—you just need to take a bold step and act.

Exodus 4:12 says: "Now therefore, go. I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say." For the widow who said she didn't have anything, God began to bless her. Elisha told her, "Go and borrow vessels from all your neighbors, even empty vessels, not a few."

Genesis 12:1 says: "Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land I will show thee." Abraham had to move. He had to do something. So also you have to move. Don't just be a hearer of the word. Come and say, "Oh, that was a nice story." It's not a story for you. It's a story for the person that went through it. It wasn't a story for them.

Bible says, "With the comfort we have been comforted, you should comfort others." I'm telling you to help you, to let you know that sometimes you are not alone. But the comfort must move you to action.

God Is His Own Interpreter

The fourth point is that God is his own interpreter. The lepers got to the camp and found that there was no man there. God had worked. There is something called "the time of fullness"—the fullness of time.

Psalm 102:13 says: "Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favor her. Yeah, the set time is come." Genesis 40:15 says Joseph was in prison until the time that his word came. Today your word has come.

Psalm 30:5 says: "For his anger endured but a moment, in his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

God has his own timing. He is his own interpreter.

Nigeria Will Turn Around

The fifth point is that Nigeria will turn around. There are many prophecies concerning Nigeria, and I believe those prophecies. It might look as if you cannot see the prosperity that people talk about. The people in Samaria couldn't see it either. But it happened in 24 hours.

Things are actually getting better in Nigeria. We now have a refinery in Nigeria that sells refined fuel to the US. Do you know what that means? We have a company in Nigeria that can produce a product that cars and maybe planes use in the US. You need to let that sink in.

Our foreign reserves are now over $40 billion. Not too long ago, the foreign reserves were barely $10 billion. Our crude oil production is approaching 2 million barrels—about 1.7 million now. Remember, at one time we were down to about 1 million because of pipeline attacks. Our exchange rate, naira to dollar, was about 2,000 at its worst. It's about 1,500 now and likely to get better.

But then the average Nigerian will ask, "Pastor, these are statistics. Rice is still expensive for me. Rent is still expensive for me." Don't forget that the problems of Nigeria didn't happen in one day. You cannot cure and solve the problems in one day either. I'm not speaking for government. I'm just telling you what is happening. I'm an economist.

Government is doing much better on the macro level, but we need to pray that they do better on the micro level—where ordinary people live. Because people who are hungry are angry. You need to pray for government that God gives them ideas, because if people have lost jobs and companies have closed factories, you don't build new factories in one year. Before people are convinced that policies won't change and will come back to invest, before they build new factories and train people—that takes two years. But people are hungry now. They don't have two years to wait.

These are structural problems that you cannot fix quickly. But I have it deep in my spirit: I believe that God is going to do a miraculous turnaround in Nigeria. And I'm praying that when that happens, you will be a partaker of the goodness of this country in the mighty name of Jesus.

God Has a Plan for You

Finally, God has a plan for you. He has a plan for your life. Jeremiah 29:11 says: "For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end."

If God can turn things around in 24 hours in Samaria, we have hope in Nigeria. But as we are waiting for that turnaround, there are some things that are within your own powers to do. When you pray and you think—when you think, don't look at the Joneses. Sometimes you have to change your car. If your car is consuming too much fuel, if you have a jeep, you know that roadworthiness inspections happen every year in Lagos.

One of my mechanics looked at one of my cars and said, "We have to change this tire, sir." I said, "Why?" He said, "It has expired." I said, "Tire has expired? What do you mean?" He said, "Yes, they have a date on it." So I asked him to check with the tire supplier and get a quotation.

Do you know that a tire for a jeep now costs between 350,000 and 500,000 naira? One tire. I thought, "Do we have to change everything now?" But it shows the level of inflation we're talking about. Before, for that kind of money, you could buy land in a very good place.

People are going through a lot. But I'm telling you that in spite of all of that, there are some people who, when cars were selling for 2 million naira, could not afford to buy. But when cars were now going for 25 million, they bought two. Why? Their time had come.

My prayer for you is not about the level of inflation in Nigeria. My prayer for you is that no matter how much the things you need cost, God will make a way for you. That's what is important. It doesn't matter how much it costs. Some people could not buy until the thing was very expensive because their time came. Your own time has come.

The thoughts of God for you are thoughts of good and not of evil. You will never lack. All that you are trusting God for, to make your joy full—God will provide for you in the mighty name of Jesus. The next time I see you or hear from you, your testimony will be loud.