## The Unshakeable Currency: When Faith Confronts Africa’s Mountains
**Akasia, Pretoria.** This morning, I watched mist cling to the Magaliesberg like a prayer shawl. My neighbour, Mama Ndlovu, met me at the gate—her son’s mining job vanished in a corporate downsizing. "They say *recession*," she spat the English word like a pip. "But God says *provider*." She marched to her shack singing *"Nkosi yam, ungadeli!"* (My Lord, don’t abandon me!). In her defiance, I saw it: **faith is the only currency that cashes Heaven’s checks when earthly banks collapse.**
### I. The Anatomy of Faith: More Than Wishful Thinking
Scripture defines faith as "*confidence in what we hope for, assurance about what we do not see*" (Hebrews 11:1). Yet in our townships, faith is often reduced to *"name it, claim it"* theatrics or fatalistic resignation. Let’s dismantle both deceptions:
**A. Biblical Faith vs. Cultural Counterfeits**
- **Faith ≠ Positive Thinking**: Unlike Western self-help mantras, biblical faith anchors in God’s *character*, not our confidence. Abraham didn’t believe *in* his hope—he believed *in the God "*who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not" (Romans 4:17) .
- **Faith ≠ Ignoring Reality**: Abraham "*faced the fact that his body was as good as dead*" (Romans 4:19) . Faith stares down Goliaths but counts five stones.
**Logical Precision**:
1. *Premise*: Faith requires an object (Hebrews 11:6).
2. *Premise*: The only infallible object is God’s self-revelation in Scripture.
3. *Conclusion*: Authentic faith trusts God’s promises *because of who He is*, not circumstantial evidence.
### II. Abraham’s Audacity: A Blueprint for African Believers
In Genesis 22, God tests Abraham: *"Take your son... and sacrifice him"* (v.2). Notice the tension:
- **Human Impossibility**: Isaac was the child of promise, born when Abraham was "*as good as dead*" (Romans 4:19) .
- **Divine Certainty**: Abraham declared, *"God himself will provide the lamb"* (Genesis 22:8).
**African Lens**: Abraham’s test mirrors our continent’s crises:
- *Like Zimbabwean migrants in SA* facing xenophobia yet gathering monthly for Eucharist, declaring, *"We are God’s people on the way to an eternal homeland"* (Pope Francis, 2024) .
- *Like Tanzanian jobseekers* in Arusha, told by Pastor Mdobi: *"Faith is tapping power to see the unseen"* (Hebrews 11:6-16) .
Abraham’s faith *"gave glory to God*" (Romans 4:20) —not by denying pain, but by trusting the Promise-Keeper when promises seemed broken.
### III. Mountains in the African Landscape: When Faith Roars
Jesus said, *"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed... Nothing will be impossible for you"* (Matthew 17:20). But how does this confront our actual mountains?
**Modern Moriahs**:
1. **Economic Kilimanjaros**: Load-shedding. 45% unemployment. Yet at the 2025 G20 Summit, Bishop Mbuyisa thundered: *"Africa must raise its moral voice! We speak not just with economic data but with the cries of our people!"* . Faith demands we *"call things that are not as though they were"* (Romans 4:17)—advocating debt justice while creating township cooperatives.
2. **Relational Quakes**: Gender-based violence against migrant women spiked during COVID lockdowns . Faith isn’t silence; it’s *"the shield that extinguishes Satan’s flaming arrows"* (Ephesians 6:16) —arming churches to protect the vulnerable.
3. **Spiritual Droughts**: Syncretism sweeps SA—*"blessers"* replace providers, sangomas prescribe "holy" muti. True faith *"demolishes arguments that set themselves against God"* (2 Corinthians 10:5).
**Objection Anticipated**: *"If faith moves mountains, why do prayers go unanswered?"*
→ **Rebuttal**: Faith isn’t a vending machine. God’s "no" to Isaac’s sacrifice (Genesis 22:12) reveals: He may **remove** the mountain, **reshape** us as we climb it (Romans 5:3-4), or **reveal** His greater provision (Jehovah-Jireh).
### IV. Practical Faith: Turning Receipts into Reality
Faith becomes currency through:
1. **Speaking to Mountains** (Mark 11:23): Like the Tanzanian writer who saw Kilimanjaro after jacarandas fell—*"loss uncovered beauty once obscured"* . Name your crisis: *"Unemployment, be cast into the sea! Family strife, be uprooted!"*
2. **Feeding Faith Facts**: *"Faith comes by hearing the Word"* (Romans 10:17). Ditch fear-fueled fantasies for God’s résumé:
- Split seas (Exodus 14).
- Shut lions’ mouths (Daniel 6).
- Fund a tax payment with a fish’s mouth (Matthew 17:27)!
3. **Community Courage**: Zimbabwean migrants in SA survive through *"faith and fellowship"* . Your faith grows stronger when shared (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
**Conclusion: The Audacity of “Even If!”**
Last week, a youth in Soshanguve showed me his "impossible" dream: a tech hub in a hijacked building. *"They say it’s gang territory,"* he shrugged. *"But if God is for us..."* (Romans 8:31).
Faith isn’t denying the mountain’s mass. It’s hearing God whisper: *"What is that to you? Follow Me"* (John 21:22). Abraham’s faith forced Moriah to kneel. Yours can silence load-shedding, xenophobia, despair.
> **Prayer**: *Yahweh-Jireh, we stand at our Moriahs—job loss, sickness, broken nation. We declare: You are God of resurrection! Forge in us Abraham’s faith: unyielding, God-glorifying, mountain-crushing. Make us roar "EVEN IF!" when fear whispers "what if?" Amen.*
**Harold Mawela** is a voice from Akasia, weaving biblical truth with African soil. His next book, *Unshakeable: Faith in the Fires of Mzansi*, releases 2025.
Comments
Post a Comment