By Alexander Redd

God brings radical change to a nation of people when He allows them to experience rocky and painful situations. When God declared through Prophet Haggai that He would involve Himself in a graphic and visible way to shake things up by disrupting the normalcy of life, the Israelites were on the cusp of uncomfortable scenarios before they could relatively experience the elusive life element they so craved – peace (Haggai 2:6-9). 

Prior to bringing His plan for the nation of Israel, God allowed the nation to go through uncomfortable situations, for example, He led them out of bondage in Egypt following defeat of Pharaoh, opened the Red Sea, provided Manna – meal from heaven, as the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for many years. God was getting them ready for the promised land they had not seen before. 

The same  could be true when God is getting ready to do something new in your personal life and even in our families, communities, and our nation, He will regularly put us through some sort of frightening and painful experience first. We may not immediately see what is new ahead of us. And because we become so frightful during painful life situations, God always assures us through His Word “not to fear” (Isaiah 41). Why? Because God does things on purpose with His goal for our own good, our homeland is no exception. 

We have experienced worst life situations such as political upheavals that culminated into civil war with loss of over 250, 000 lives, followed by infectious Ebola disease that claimed thousands of lives, COVID-19, disintegration of traditional family life, and an insidious decline of moral cultural guidance. The deaths, discomfort, anguish, and even agony the Liberian people have experienced present a shaky situation, something that God may have largely allowed due to our willful and deliberate failure to live in cadence with His sovereign plan and will. If we are wholeheartedly willing to learn and obey Him, we will be heading to something new for our nation.

The experience of these frequent painful situations, whether it be an individual, a relationship, an organization, or a nation – God is getting ready to deliver something new. Therefore, our shared experience of these rocky situations must now force us to deal with and recognize the new place God is taking us. It’s time that we began to acknowledge that God allowed our nation to go through turmoil in order to get our attention and to reveal a new reality He is creating. Nevertheless, we have not learned enough to wholeheartedly turn our attention to Him. We continually prioritize our hobbies and all type of entertainment platforms of our time and, yet, fail to prioritize sitting and listening to the LORD. 

My friends and fellow citizens, it’s time that we put aside self-centeredness and come together in acknowledging our past failures, swiftly work in unison to create an enabling environment for reconciliation, productivity, safety, and stability. We must now learn that God disrupts the natural order of things in our lives and in our homeland so that either to redirect our priorities back to Him or to usher in new life through a new delivery. Our LORD can do so by birthing a shift in our hearts, minds, and situations. He is awakening us to listen and to make a difference today!