Like Magic the Bees Disappeared

The rains were approaching and people were busy preparing their fields for planting. Godo, a new believer, went out to his field early one morning and forgot to pray as he usually did. He was busy felling trees to expand his farm.

He reached a tree in which a large swarm of bees had settled in the trunk. Godo knew he could not cut that tree without provoking the bees. This was going to make life difficult for him, hindering his free movement in that part of his farm. He would lose the use of that field until the bees decided to move which could take at least a year. As agriculturalists, the Kamuku people lived with the vulnerability that their crops could be destroyed by drought, pests, storms, or fires.

Before his conversion, Godo was a practitioner of African Traditional Religion. This worldview held that behind the physical always lurked an invisible and capricious world of spirits. Calamities could be caused by angering those spirits and this caused much fear. Sacrifices, amulets, and charms were necessary to appease the spirits.

As Godo turned this over in his mind, he remembered he had not prayed that morning. He immediately knelt to pray, asking God to help him by sending the bees away. When he finished and opened his eyes, the whole swarm had disappeared! The bees just vanished which seemed like magic to Godo and at first he was afraid.

What seemed like magic to him was actually the power of God acting on his behalf in response to his prayer. Godo had forsaken his traditional faith in charms and amulets for faith in the power of God through prayer.

Reflection

Are you facing a threatening situation today? It could be financial, medical, emotional, spiritual, or something else – what is your “swarm of bees”? Pray and ask God to deliver you from this threat. Reread Luke 5:1-11. What is one step of obedience you can take to trust God with your situation?