By Austin Kaluba –
In 2 Chronicles 7:14 the Bible explicitly states that if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
I refer to this biblical quote in relation to President Edgar Lungu’s declaration of October 18, as a day of prayer and fasting in response to the economic crisis the country is facing.
President Lungu’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda recently stated that the declaration followed the overwhelming requests that ordinary citizens and clergy from all denominations had made.
He stated that the Head of State appealed to all Zambians to assemble at their respective places of worship and spend time in prayer and fasting to seek the face of God to avert the dangers that confront the nation.
Since David Livingstone set foot in this region introducing the three Cs-Commerce, Civilisation and Christianity, Zambia became a Christian nation.
By officially declaring Zambia as a Christian nation, the second Republican President Frederick Chiluba was just endorsing the ecclesiastical crusade initiated by Livingstone.
In short we are not Christians by accident but by some awesome divine intervention that has seen God’s Spirit guiding this country.
However, no country that is blessed by God has been free of challenges from the principalities of darkness that always fight the light.
Here we are like the Jews during captivity in Egypt desperately seeking answers from western oracles in form of donor agencies, NGOs and international financial organisations instead of focusing on the God of Israel.
It is good that we have realised early that the problems we are facing call for divine intervention since they are insurmountable if confronted by man alone.
As a Christian nation, we should remember the story of the Jews when they were fleeing from Pharaoh’s army and came upon the red sea.
They had two formidable enemies; Pharaoh’s ferocious army and the dreadful Red Sea. It had to take God’s intervention to assure Moses not to fear since they were protected by a divine being.
The day of prayer as declared by the President needs massive support from all Christians who are believers in the living God of Jacob and Abraham.
We should bear in mind that though from a human perspective, the problems facing us are serious and insurmountable, with God, they are easily solvable.
As stated above, the Spirit of God has for many years prevailed over this country as evidenced in the relative peace and stability we have enjoyed since independence from Britain in 1964, when most of our neighbours were grappling with internal conflicts.