Igbekele

One of the things that amazes me about Abraham is his willingness to go without having any idea where he was going. If you are like me, you would like to have an end destination in mind before embarking on a journey. Not so for Abraham; he goes without knowing and this becomes a pattern for him. Even when ordered to go sacrifice his son, he went without knowing which mountain he was going to. Like I said, I find it amazing and I really respect him for it.  When one engages with Abraham’s story, it becomes clear that he was able to behave in this manner because he trusted the one giving the instructions. He had complete confidence in the God directing him, so he followed not knowing the next step but believing he would not be led into a ditch.

The word ‘trust’ seemed very abstract to me until I figured it out in my mother tongue – Yoruba. One of the beauties of the Yoruba language is that it is highly descriptive. You can deduce the meaning of a word by exploring the different components that make it up; sometimes the words seem to tell a story or paint a picture of their meanings. Take for example, the word for trust which is ‘igbekele’.  Without going into morphological analysis, let me explain what it means. ‘igbe’ means to rest against/on; ‘ke’ is the shortened form of ‘eke’ which is Yoruba word for cheek; ‘le’ means on or against. When put together, it loosely translates as ‘the act of resting your cheek against something’. The concept being described becomes clear when the picture painted is considered. Let me describe that picture.

It is the picture of a little child seeking solace from the parent or any trusted person. I am sure that you can picture a child running from a perceived danger into the arms of a trusted person, taking a deep breath and resting the cheeks against the chest or back. For a child resting the cheeks on the parent’s body says no harm can touch me here and the parent will go to all length to protect the child. It reminds me of Psalms 91: 14 and Isaiah 26:3. God is moved to act when we put our cheeks on Him in total confidence that He’s got us.

I don’t know what the new year holds. I don’t, but I am going to rest my cheeks on God. I will ‘gbekele’, knowing that He sees beyond what I see and that He will move on my behalf to be all I need Him to be – my protector, provider, healer, waymaker, guide etc.  

I have read a lot of epithets for 2020; I am sure that you have too. Let’s add one more to the list. It is the year of ‘igbekele’/trust.

Welcome to 2020. Keep trusting

I Bi Dem.