THE AILMENT THAT EVERY TALENTED PERSON MUST BE HEALED OF
I was sitting with an influential man and we were having a conversation. He made a profound statement while we spoke. He said, “No matter how much kingmakers like a man, once he is sick in one form or the other, it would be hard to make such sit on the throne. They will love him genuinely but his sickness would have tied their hands”.
It was a statement that refused to leave my heart throughout the day. I kept ruminating on it. Thrones are not for the sick.
There was a king in the Bible that could not reign any longer because he became afflicted with leprosy. The way the scriptures said it is that “another ruled in his place”.
Then Uzziah became furious, and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house because he was a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.
II Chronicles 26:19, 21 NKJV
So Uzziah rested with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” Then Jotham his son reigned in his place.
II Chronicles 26:23 NKJV
There is a throne ordained for everyone in life and destiny, you must ensure that sickness of the soul or the spirit does not deny you access.
One of the sicknesses that God would deal with before putting you on the throne is the sickness of “Self”. God will not allow a man who is full of self on a throne where the destinies of many are involved.
It was one of the tests that Joseph had to pass. Self had to be dealt with. Joseph had a pattern of talking of himself. Listen to Joseph share his dreams in his father’s house:
He said to them, “Listen to this dream (I) had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly (my) sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around (mine) and bowed down to it.”
Genesis 37:6 – 7 NIV
Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “(I) had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to (me).”
Genesis 37:9 NIV
God gave the dreams but the testimony was full of self!
Listen to Joseph after he interpreted the dream of the cupbearer and requested that he should be remembered:
But when all goes well with you, remember (me) and show (me) kindness; mention (me) to Pharaoh and get (me) out of this prison. (I) was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here (I) have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”
Genesis 40:14 – 15 NIV
Even though God was with Joseph, God ensured that Joseph did not access the throne until the “Sickness of Me and I” died.
Listen to Joseph after he had learnt that self must die and God must be glorified. He was speaking to Pharaoh now in the palace:
So, Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “(It is not in me; God) will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” Genesis 41:16 NKJV
Did you see that? “It is not in me, God…” That was the moment that God was waiting for. The moment where “Me” died and it was all about God.
Do you have the sickness of “Me” and “I”? Do you have a sense of entitlement because you are gifted and talented?
When I came into ministry, I thought the gift of an orator and the degree of a lawyer was a great advantage but I soon learnt that ‘me’ must die for the ‘message’ of God to be delivered. I struggled even though I was gifted but the day I had a shift from my gift to His Grace, things changed!
Hear me: God will not put a “sick and unprepared” vessel on display. He will patiently work on you. Will you let him?