Touching the soulof Ghana. The Laments

Transcription

1 Touching the soulof Ghana The Laments 1

2 The first lament The sorrow sweeps in like a storm and swamps me. I am a child being broken again and again. I am hurting in my sorrow and loneliness. Will no one hear my cry? Will no one help? My sorrow brings me down to the ground. I fall. I can never rise again. Why have you done this to me? Was one Calvary not enough for you? Must you crucify me again and again? My agony will become yours. I will take your land from you. Others will triumph over you. My sorrow will become yours. Perhaps when this happens you will understand and turn to me again. I offered love Was this such an offence to you that you turned away? Now from my cross fresh blood flows the price of your betrayal This is my first lament 2

3 The second lament I was a beautiful flower, held in the hand of the Lord. I reflected his glory and gave him everlasting joy. But you trod me into the ground, broke my beauty and walked away. Daily I grieve your loss. But those who were to protect you neglected you, damaged you, broke you. My sorrow is great but theirs will be greater They will see what I longed to give them - the beauty, the closeness, the joy, but now they have nothing but dust and ashes. You my soul are always safe but they are broken broken for ever. Such sorrow I made you beautiful But those who should have cared defiled you My sorrow is great theirs will be greater Broken together This is my second lament 3

4 The third lament The sickness is growing. The pollution is everywhere. I will be crushed and my beauty taken from me. Once I rested in the sun glorious in my Father's presence. But now I am being wasted, spoilt, damaged, broken, and there is no end to the desert of shame in which I now wander. My plan for you was one of love but it was not enough for you. The path was beside still waters Now it is a desert waste. My people, you who were to be my glory now have become my shame I wanted only good for you But it was not enough. You turned to other ways And now the desert is consuming you. My glory in you is shattered And I am bewildered. This is my third lament 4

5 The fourth lament I am draining away All my life is running away like water into the ground. I am crying out for someone to come and help me But no one listens. I will sit down and wait to die of thirst. I never meant this for you. We are both losing. You your glory And me my hope. This is my fourth lament 5

6 The fifth lament Two children were given to you. The first was called The Joy of Africa. This child was to bring such hope to all of my African creation. The second was called The Hope of Africa. This child was a promise - that I could never abandon this place which I love. The children were settled in Ghana, because there I knew they would be safe. But they were not safe. You conceived other children, My destiny is mine to take and Me Me Me. These children beat my own children and drove them away. They took their seats and demanded attention. Slowly, The Hope and The Joy were wasted by lack of love. Now I will conceive another child for Ghana - The Judgement I will not listen to your cries, because they are no sincere. You do not cry for me, nor for my lost children, but for yourselves, because you want Me Me Me and My destiny back. The judgement is coming, because you destroyed my children. Heaven grieves. This is my fifth lament 6

7 The sixth lament Once all I heard was the worship of heaven in this land. It brought joy to my soul, and I rose up with love to worship also. Now another sound fills my ears. It is not worship of my Lord but is honouring another. I listen for my own to reject this, to drown it out with a passion for my Lord. I am waiting, but I do not hear. This other sound is destroying me. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other Gods but me. You have broken my basic law, but you do not seem to care. What now can you expect? I will lament no more 7

8 My rejection A man came to the door of a house. He was carrying a very beautiful bunch of flowers. He knocked, and when the people opened the door, the man said These are for you and gave the flowers to them. They laughed. What are these? they said. We don t want flowers. We want money. We want possessions. We want our needs met. Flowers! We don t want flowers! He spoke to them. I took nothing from you. I asked for nothing. All I had to give was my love and a safe destiny. These treasures were of great value. I had to pay a high price to get them. But to you I offered them freely. The people laughed again, a mocking laugh, a scornful laugh. A rejecting laugh. Listen to this fool they said. He speaks of love and destiny we have all those things and more. This is all he has to bring! Why would anyone bother with such a man. Then they grabbed his flowers and trampled on them until they were broken petals and broken stems. They picked up stones to throw at him, to drive him away. They slammed the door, and from behind it came laughter - hard breaking destructive laughter. The man turned away, tears running down his face. In the shadows another figure stood. He too was laughing. You see he said, mocking, I own them now! In heaven Father grieved at the loss and what was to come. 8

9 Your rejection? A large group of people were wandering along. They were singing and praising. Their praises were coming from their own heart, not from a loving yielded spirit, but they did not care. Everything is fine they sang. We are God s people. He has to bless us. He will always bless us. They were not radiant in the light of the Spirit. Their clothes were dirty and uncared for. They had become careless of their lives before the Lord, but they didn t worry. All is well they sang. And as they sang, they hugged each other, so proud of their security and their certain faith. As they sang, with their eyes on themselves, they wandered further and further from the path. The desert began to reach out and grasp them. Their hope and confidence began to weaken, and as it did their songs died. They started a new song. Oh God, come and help us. You must. We are your children. Look at what we have done for you. We have raised up buildings, filled the air with radio and TV. We are spoken of everywhere. But the silence of the desert began to choke them. More and more they cried, not from repentance but from the need for self-preservation. Slowly it dawned on them that they would die. Our God won t let this happen they said. He is a God of love. Then the Lord came to them. His face was stained with tears. Have you come to save us? They asked. No he said. You wanted your will to be done. Now your will be done. But Lord they said You must help us. I am helping you by letting you die. A new generation must take your place, one that will worship me from a pure heart, and will serve me with a humble heart. Who will not seek after self, but only after service. The people became indignant. So they said you never really loved us. Oh yes he replied, with a love deeper than you ever wanted to know. The people were puzzled by this. They could not understand what the Lord was saying. Then to their horror, he turned away. No! they cried. Help us! Help us! made no reply. All they could hear was his crying. Jim Smith June 2104 jimsmithghana@yahoo.co.uk 9