The Mystery of Experiences

Babylon. Let’s start with Babylon. The Israelites went into exile and Daniel had to learn the tongue of the Chaldeans. Knowing a people’s language alone, without necessarily having as much wisdom in that dialect gives you confidence to speak or fit in that ethnicity. Later, Daniel did great exploits within the courts of the kings of Babylon, and knowing their language (though he was from a Jewish background) must have made things easier for him.

God would not have planned to use him, and then face the problem of language barrier afterwards. Learning the language equipped Daniel with an experience. An experience that catalysed the fear of the one true God in a realm of over 10 countries. On top of that, since he was going to stand in front of royalty, he had to learn the conducts of one who serves in the provincial administration, who pretty much stands in the back-then white house.

This is all akin to Moses’ story. God ensured he grew up within the palace, and was an adopted brother to Ramses II; but God knew he’d return to challenge him when he became pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Moses needed another kind of experience, even if the language he got to know. Since the Israelites had been there 400 years, like many immigrants’ children, they’d have all generically learnt the Egyptian dialect. So, the language experience wasn’t required here. Perchance the conduct experience, like for Daniel. No wonder Moses’ worry was the stammering, and not not being able to speak Egyptian, and when God said Aaron would speak for him, he accepted to go, because he knew (and had experienced to a degree) the current pharaoh, since he’d grown up with him. That alone gave him confidence.

Perhaps having tasted the highest systems, and having known the alleys as well, graced Moses with the familiarity he needed to hold his head high. This all shows us that experience gives us courage. And God knows we need it, so He’ll ensure we don’t miss the ordeals that will be our experiences.

David faced Goliath because he had fought lions and bears. Those were his ordeals. Back in the unknown meadows as he tended his father’s sheep.

Experiences evoke trust: Trust in yourself and trust in God. I don’t mean trusting entirely your strength. But being bold enough to bear your head up. Not being intimidated by other foes. Killing bears and lions filled David with a trust in himself, such that when no champion stood against Goliath, he didn’t cower back at the challenge.

Experiences also amount to the skilling of a man. It is wise not to exercise yourself in things you’re not skilled in yet. David said he doesn’t exercise himself in matters higher than him (Psalms 131:1). How — you might ask; well, remember David’s reaction when King Saul offered him an armor to wear. It was too heavy and could have protected David, but I do not think he’d have won the victory if he had confronted the giant while wearing it. He wasn’t skilled in fighting armor clad, let alone wearing it, thus not exercising himself in that matter.

Even when it comes to our CVs, organisations trust longer ones, especially those of applicants with divers working experiences. Short ones are rarely prioritized. And so, this calls us to strive for greater ‘skillship’ in each of our fields. If you’re venturing into book writing, do not just write a book on the onset! Begin by attaining an experience of writing articles. Read about the standards of books, before you make monstrosities of book covers and sell something so unattractive to the buyer. Find someone skilled in all aspects of that field, before you go ‘lone ranger’ on your own. Yes do not exercise yourself in matters higher than you, but you can, with the right experienced people as per the example I’ve given.

Experiences as well issue excellence. This is diligence being churned. The diligent spirit then promotes you to stand before kings and not mere (or mean) men. It shoved David from the fields to play for the king in his palace instead of playing for air and livestock.

Excellence is the point beyond ‘good’. Good things sometimes bear flaws. Excellent ones leave men with no breath left within them. Take a look at Joseph. The good was interpretation of the dream. ‘Excellent’ was providing a solution to the horror the dream foretold. Pharaoh had no breath left in him. Same with Daniel with Nebuchadnezzar; dream revealing — good. Dream meaning — excellent.

Joseph had had several experiences with dreams and signs, thus excelling with Pharaoh’s. Daniel 6:3 says, ‘Daniel was PREFERRED above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was found in him.’ He was distinguished. Meaning, if you bear the excellent spirit as well, your products or services will always be preferred over others in your very field. You’ll be distinguished and in your league, such that it will be preposterous for others to even dare compare themselves to you.

But let’s recall, that it’s experiences that precede this excellent spirit.

Now let me close with the degrees of experience: If God is water, some can understand him as tap water… for drinking, washing our stains, showering, etc. This is specially for many who live on the mainlands. But whosoever has lived by the sea or ocean; to them God is experienced at a greater level; seeing that He can be a tsunami that can drown mightier ships!

Their trust — in fact reverence — of water will be matchless compared to a man who’s never been to the sea. Forget seeing it all on screen. The experience of a Ninevehite watching a whale somersault from a distance is different from Jonah’s who was inside its belly!

If they went to biology class back then, Jonah would convince everyone on whether a whale has a duodenum or not! That’s assuming he was an anatomist.

People who walk the beach might think it’s water alone in a basin (assuming technology didn’t exist). But a person who’s swam in or drowned, has seen that the ocean is not just water, but divers kinds of fish as well. Beyond fish, they see sea horses and squids and eels and octopuses and krakens and the habitats of these things (namely coral reefs), the deeper they dive!

And oh my God — that’s it — the meaning of ‘deep calls unto deep’. The scuba divers, those that yearn to reach the bottom of the seas, are the ones who reach there eventually. They get necessary equipment and precautions to get to the unknown regardless of anything! In so doing, the deep they seek to discover, gives up hiding, and is found. No wonder God says seek and you’ll find.

Unlike Ugandan hide and seek called kwiso, God won’t pity you when you can’t find where He’s hiding. If you keep seeking, eventually you’ll uncover all potential nooks. For kwiso, if the seeker gets tired of seeking out the last hider, he or she says ‘kagoba ko’ (meaning one has won that round). For the defeat, the seeker is punished to close his or her eyes again to count as everyone else (including those that had been discovered) run back to hide.

Even if it takes days, God will keep hiding. He’ll eventually get tired of that hiding spot if you haven’t seen Him yet, or you’d catch Him as He switches hiding places as many do during kwiso! You think this is hectic? Well, He said you must never give up! I once wrote about God being an ore like gold or iron. If you drill in the wrong spot, you must move to another. But, let’s not forget that before sensible people drill anywhere, they must have evidence of suspicion of gold in that particular area.

Folly it is then, hoping to find sand on a rock! On a lakeshore however, there are more chances of finding it! Where have you heard that God’s hiding. You’re more prone to finding Him in places rumors have said He’s hiding. You have more chances finding Him in the Bible (or experiencing Him while reading it) than at a brothel!

The Bible itself is like an ocean. You’ll hear that God is an ocean, but what’s an ocean? Don’t think it’s just water. Don’t think it’s calm always. The trick is to stay determined and inquisitive, and slowly, you’ll discover the creatures that reside in this ocean. Beyond that, after knowing all of them, and you’ve dived to the deepest level of the craters in the ocean, you’ll also discover sunken ships with treasures like Isaiah said in 45 verse 3. And God in His version of kwiso, rewards those who diligently seek Him. He’ll say, “Each chest of gold you find is yours to keep.”

In His hide and seek regulations, every time you find Him, you win a prize. And … if we are to turn to another type of hide and seek from Uganda still called kakebe (small tin), it gets better. In this one, you find a person and run to a tin and tap on it with a stick while mentioning their name. To redeem those found, one has to kick the tin before the seeker taps it with a stick. The best runner wins, as the seeker walks many meters away from the tin in search for the hiders.

In an attempt to win, sometimes the hider could see the seeker coming and so they begin to run from their hiding place so as to kick the tin. God sees you coming and tries to run but since He’s a just God, sometimes He let’s you win. When all hiders have been got, he that was discovered first takes turn to seek others. Since it’s only God and you playing, He instead offers gifts. Gifts like taking you around the ocean by Himself on a trip to discover the nature of each creature.

Remember you discovered the eel minutes back, but God later reveals to you that it bears electricity. He shows you the blowfish, and how it enlarges in order not to be swallowed by prey! Suddenly, you move from just knowing an eel, to experiencing it. You move from just knowing God generically, to experiencing Him as Jireh (provider), or as Nissi (healer). He’s one and the same, and yet different.

It’s like experiencing Biggie the comedian, and then you discover Biggie the author. Those two are different versions of the same person, and if you enjoy laughter and reading, you’ll find yourself falling in love with this character.

Perhaps you love art. You’ll lose it when you discover Biggie the artist. But even if you don’t, you’ll REVERE the multidimensionality of this one person!

This leads us back to where we began from. You knew the ocean as just water, but now you no longer just want to chill by the ocean but IN it; to see the new species of fish you missed yesterday and the other shapes of corals and the various oysters and pearls and the sunken titanics within.

God taking you on a journey in the ocean in the long run is weaving millions of your experiences of Him. Thus, your experience of God will be different from one who’s only visited the beach. You’ll bear more courage and trust in God because you’re in Him, as opposed to the beach person. You’ll learn of God’s skills and know that He doesn’t need to split the sea anymore for you to pass. You’ll realise you can walk on it!

Lastly, you’ll witness God’s excellence. And like Daniel, the excellent spirit will cause you to distinguish Him; to be above all others in your life; to be your God and Lord above all; such that even if no one is watching, you’ll not sin against Him, just like Joseph didn’t when Potiphar’s wife exerted herself on him.

And if this is true for God, and His excellent spirit, and yet He said He made you from His image; then that only means, it’s just a matter of time, before your experiences with Him and all He put in you, give you more courage, more trust, more skill and excellence! You’ll find yourself distinguished as well, above normality. You’ll be called a god like Paul when the viper bit him and he didn’t die. That caused many to revere him in Asian Minor. And in fearing Paul, they feared the God who made Paul that way.

Being called a god, Paul was really portraying God Himself. And it caused me to remember him saying that whoever is joined to God is one spirit with Him. This joining is a series of experiences. Enjoy each one of them, or even the little you’ve so far had with God; and one day, you’ll wake up, and realise, that you’re no longer a human diving in a suit with an oxygen tank into the ocean’s deep. Alas, you’ll be part of the ocean itself; a part of God HIMSELF!

And if nothing is impossible to God, then nothing will be impossible for you too.

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But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The beholding, is an experience. If the deep in you longs for the ocean, then the deep in the ocean will heed to your call, and satisfy your dire hunger.

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Psalms 16:3 As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

Psalms 107:23-24 Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters, They see the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep.