I have been privileged to see a number of football matches. When a team appears to have conceded a goal or two in their first half of forty-five minutes, they simply go to their dress room and re-strategize. And you would as well agree with me that most times, a dedicated team with a strong team-spirit and a goal-oriented coach, would return to the football pitch and turn their fortune around in the other half of the game. For such teams, if they don’t end up winning that game, they sometimes come out with a draw. I have seen a couple of matches turn out this way really, and there is an important Life lesson in that analogy for us to glean from.

 

Welcome to the second half of the year. I know you have so much running through your mind right now, most especially about this year 2020. Well, let me shock you a bit about the fact that you are not the only one thinking about it, I also do, and I am quite sure a number of people, as well as organizations, is doing same. It is true that many nations of the world and people from different walks of Life are still trying to mitigate the damage that Covid-19 have dealt on them. Quite a number of people didn’t see the pandemic coming and so, it took them by surprise.

 

Many plans have had to be put on hold. It would even be something legendary if anyone still has his or her new year resolutions really intact till now. The first six months of this year has been challenging really, but thank God you are still alive, and that is one of the most beautiful things you could possess right now. Like the beautiful saying goes “once there is Life, there is hope.” There is still hope for you, irrespective of what you have had to contend with in the first half of the year, and two Scriptures gave this assurance of hope.

 

Job 14:7-9 says:

“For there is hope for a tree,
If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
And that its tender shoots will not cease.
⁸ Though its root may grow old in the earth,
And its stump may die in the ground,
⁹ Yet at the scent of water it will bud
And bring forth branches like a plant.

 

Also, Ecclesiastes 9:4 says: “But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” The reason I am writing you this beautiful piece is to let you know that there is still so much that you can achieve with your Life this year if you would let go and let God. You see, the world may have been shocked by the pandemic, but God was not shocked. God knew there was going to be a pandemic, and He has you in mind as well. You may have asked yourself “if God was aware, why didn’t He stop it from happening?” Well, it does not matter whether God saw the pandemic coming or not.

 

What do matter is the fact that He has got you covered. Isaiah 49:16 says “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.” So, it means that you can absolutely rely on God to have a smooth second half of the year. You can count on Him for another great start. David bounced back after he lost everything. You may want to ask: how did he do it? The Bible says “he simply inquired of the Lord.” “So, David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”

 

The first thing to do in this second half is to simply ask God for a divine direction. You see, Life can simply be daunting if a man or a woman does not know the direction or the way to follow. Like the football match analogy earlier, a coach sits somewhere, study the game as it is happening and then instruct his boys on what to do and what not to do. In this case now, God is the coach and He is watching everything. Where you haven’t been to, and the things you haven’t seen, He has been there and He has seen them, and one thing He sure knows how to do best is giving His children direction to follow.

 

Two Scriptures again shows us that God gives direction. Psalms 32:8 says: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye.” You see, there are many ways in Life, but there is also the right way. When a man or a woman does not have the right direction, everywhere he or she turns would look like the right way. God does not want you to continue into the second half of this year without following His direction. See the second Scripture here. Isaiah 48:17-18. The Bible says:

 

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you by the way you should go.
¹⁸ Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

 

Did you see that? Two Scriptures saying the same thing, and the Bible made us to understand that “by two immutable things, it is impossible for God to lie.” So, what am I saying here? Don’t just rush into this second half od the year without first and foremost seeking the face of God. Let Him alone guide you into how you can make judicious uses of this other half of the year 2020. As you can see, the month is still fresh, and you can begin it with the Lord’s direction if you would let Him.

 

The second thing to do in the second half of the year is to have a positive disposition towards Life. Many things will come to discourage you. But you must be confident enough to sail through the discouragements. With each goal that Life may want to score in this half, you must be willing to retaliate by overcoming with more goals from you. In the book of Kings, the Bible documented the story of a woman who lost her only son. To many around her, Life had just scored a devastating goal against this woman, but one thing was so sure, this woman’s positivity was so stronger than the opposition’s goal. Even though her only son was dead, she would not just accept that goal. She refused to make what has just happened her permanent reality.

 

“And so, she departed, and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. So it was, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman! ²⁶ Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’” And she answered, “It is well.”

2 Kings 4:25-26

 

All the questions the man of God asked her came back with “it is well”, until she got close enough to let out her pains to the man of God. You see, you have to learn to see Life from God’s view and not your view. When you see Life from God’s view, seemingly impossible things become possible for you. Mountains you think you couldn’t climb suddenly becomes a plain, when you see Life from God’s view. The angel of the Lord said to Mary, “you would have a child”, her response was “how shall this be, I do not know a man yet”, and the angel said to her; “you don’t have to worry about how it would happen, God would sort it out.”

 

Mary had looked at the impossibility of the message the angel brough from her own view. And the more she looked, the more impossible it was. But the moment she allowed God to step in, all her seemingly impossible thoughts fizzled out, and the will of God became manifested in her Life. Much more than being positive, learn to see the way God sees, and learn to follow His direction. I believe you have been encouraged by this short piece.

 

Do have a fruitful new month.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!