A monthly column by farmer, preacher and writer for Jesus, Angus Buchan
I am busy at the moment reading the book of Daniel and again, have been so challenged by the life of this man.
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My dear friend, as we live in our beloved South Africa in these times, honesty and integrity is of the utmost importance. We thank God for the It´s Time prayer meetings that have taken place over the last 18 months and one of our main prayers has been “Lord please expose corruption” and that is exactly what is happening. It is happening in every area of the lives of South Africans.
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Daniel could not be held accountable for any unfair dealings, any corruption and yet he had the ear of the king, he was a trusted adviser and Daniel 6:3 (NKJV) says “…an excellent spirit was in him”. His enemies could not find any area in his life to condemn him and that is exactly how you and I need to be.
If we walk circumspectly before God, then automatically we will live the same life when it comes to our fellow man.
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If we look at the first chapter of Daniel, we will see that Daniel refused to compromise his stand when told to eat off the king’s table and to drink the alcohol that the king provided.
He rather ate vegetables and drank water and he actually ended up 10 times wiser than all the other magicians and astrologers that were around King Nebuchadnezzar.
We must not be in any way intimidated by the status quo, by society, by the way in which other people do their things.
If we have to pay income tax, we must pay it, because if we don’t, the blessing of God will depart from us. If we have to ask forgiveness, we must do it; if we have to stand for truth, we must speak and not be cowards, and God will be with us just like He was with Daniel.
Even when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den, the ravenous starving lions did not touch him — we must be the same. We must not trade our inheritance for a plate of mere lentil soup like Esau did, but we must remain faithful and our Lord will ensure that we succeed and that we have the victory, so that we will prosper.
We must pray for our government; we must not complain. Just the other day I read a very wise statement that goes like this: “Complaining exposes a lack of faith.”
When we complain, we show the world that our faith is very small because we are not putting our trust in God, but in man.
So, let us be of those who have an excellent spirit in South Africa at this time and the Lord Jesus Christ will do the rest in our lives for “if God is for us, then who can be against us?” — Romans 8:31(NKJV)
God bless you, as we look forward to the changes that are taking place in our nation day by day.
Yours in Christ´s service
Angus Buchan
