WHEN YOU ARE “TEKELLed”
On this day 15 years ago, I drove my mum to church for a women’s meeting. While I waited for her, I decided to read and study in the car. I still remember the Green Nissan Primera (Station Wagon) parked under a cashew tree in the church compound. That evening, God told me eight things about my life’s journey. Some of it is just unfolding in this fifteenth year.
One of the statements has become the vision for the ministry today. But there is one I want to mention:
“Never judge your progress by what men say or how men praise you. Judge your progress by what I have asked you to do”.
Why is this important? The person who did not set the question or have the marking scheme can praise you while the one with the marking scheme is shaking his head in disappointment.
Do you remember the time God asked Moses to speak to the rock? Well! Moses had other plans. He struck the rock instead. Water still came out. The people celebrated their prophet but the one who called and instructed already wrote in his file- “Journey to the Promised Land terminated before Jordan. He will not cross over”. Intercession did not change it. Do the people hailing you know the standard requirements of your life’s journey and assignment?
A dear brother said that he realised in prayer that he was some years behind in God’s programme for his life. He picked it in prayer and decided to double up with a stronger sense of urgency. There are some latecomers who are still comfortable with premature celebration.
What we call divine speed is simply the stepping of a man whose movement is in total sync with God’s dealings and plans for his life. If you use external visible things to judge (we must have those things as a blessing from the Lord), you would think that Joseph in Potiphar’s house was closer to kingship than Joseph in prison. Meanwhile, Joseph in prison was closer to God’s plan for him.
If you have a word from the Lord that you will be married by 2023 and you suffer a “post-introduction” break up in February 2023, in the calendar of God, you are closer to fulfilment because the man or lady that left your life may not be ready for marriage as it seems. If you stop brooding and trust God, you will realise that by November, you are a married man or woman. We understand God in retrospect.
Finally, do you know that there is a divine scale? There was a king called Belshazzar. He threw a party and used the golden cups from God’s temple to serve his guests. While he was drinking, a hand wrote on the wall: Mene Mene Tekel Uparsin (Daniel 5).
Do you know what “Tekel” means? Weighed! You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. If heaven “Tekels” you, what will your test result be? If heaven “tekels” your marriage, will it be according to God’s expectation? When Jesus “Tekelled” the churches in Revelation, He challenged them all, especially one to return to their first love.
If you will measure up, know this and know peace: Honour God with your life. Belshazzar failed that test:
But the God who holds in His hand your breath of life and your ways you have not honored and glorified [but have dishonored and defied].
Daniel 5:23 AMP
Do not forget, there is something called “Tekel”. Be calm, be careful but consistently follow God’s plan for you.
temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa.