The Purpose of Independence

Nigeria is celebrating her 50th year of independence today. The whole country is jubilating. Even the people in diaspora are not left behind. Afterall, we are Nigerians and proud to be regardless of where we are.

But as I was praying this morning, the Lord laid this on my spirit about independence.

Moses was sent to Pharaoh to ask for the independence of the Israelites. But he did not ask for the sake of it. There was a reason for it: to worship the Lord.
Exodus 3:18: "Then they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ "

There were blessings that God promised the Israelites in conjunction with independence from Egypt:
Exodus 3:17:  "and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey."

And as I was thinking about Nigeria and her revelry of today, these question came to mind: "What does this anniversary mean to us?" The Bible says in Proverbs 29: 18, "¹Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]--blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he." The New Living Translation states it this way, "When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild..."

When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they forgot the vision; they went after foreign gods and did things their own way. The consequence was for them to be wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. When a nation forgets God, they run wild like an headless chicken, not going forward or backward.

Nigeria needs to come back to God. Though, we have churches 5 minutes away from each other, we are so far from God. Going to church has become more of a religion, seeking supernatural end to our challenges, instead of seeking and knowing the Giver of Life.
50 years is a long time to wander around, it is time to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth and give our lives totally to Him. That is when we can say with conviction, that we are independent....to do what He wills!