WHERE TO TURN - Mawuli Amekor

WHERE TO TURN

I took a closer look at humanity
Watched men from a fraternity
Trying to build a community
But all they did was vanity!

I saw men search for a gain
To the extent of doing things insane
They go through a lot of pain
But all this they do in vain!

Men seek for a greater future
Forgetting they are but a creature
Ignoring the call by nature
The fire of God they fail to nurture!

Oh! unto Christ may we now turn
From His word should we now learn
And His fire in us allow to burn
Then shall we begin to earn.

OVERVIEW

The poem is generally about the effort of men without Christ. It is true that men all over the world are trying to build a safer and a better community for themselves; they think the economic crises will be resolved, wars, murders, robberies, other social vices and the horrors of poverty will be solved by their manly endeavours. Sadly, no living  thing can exist without its source of life. When the tree is uprooted from the ground where its nutrition and source of
life comes from, it will die. Even nonliving-things perform their functions appropriately or become relevant to society by living on something - the torchlight has to live on batteries, the car on gas, diesel or petrol the computer on electrical power or batteries. It is an inevitable fact that the only autonomous being is Jehovah. So just as other living-things, human beings also have to live  on food and water for the nourishment of the body and for the pleasure of the soul. One main truth we should realise is that, as human beings, we are three in one; our body, Spirit and soul. Eating and drinking only nourishes our body and gives pleasure to our souls. Our spirit does not benefit from this carnal nourishment because the only source of life for the spirit is God and He can only be reached through Jesus Christ. This conclusion is what the poem is turning us to, so we can all acknowledge the  power and the concern of God in our daily lives.

ANALYSIS

Stanza I

"I took a closer look at humanity
Watched men from a fraternity
Trying to build a community
But all they did was vanity!"

The poem opens with the persona stating the ground or the basis of his follow up arguments. According to the persona he 'took a closer look' meaning he did not just jump into conclusion, but he first scrutinise the situation on the ground by taking a closer look at the human race. This choice of words by the persona  reveals the verisimilitude in his work, so that, we can count on his findings and make resolution in our lives. This phrase also goes the long way to identify the persona as a man of experience; one that we can count on for  advice. Alluding to the bible, we can conclude that, the persona follows apostle Paul to say that what we have  seen, heard and experienced is what we bring or say to you.  During the

The struggle of Man

observation experience of the persona, he realised that men of the same fraternity were trying to  build a community, but he also saw that all they were doing was vanity. We should however note that, when we use the word fraternity we are referring to a group of people with the same profession or a society of men with  the same goal. How then will these already united people seek to build a community if not for the fact that they had found their current situation to be unsatisfactory? We can therefore envisage a society that is united, has  professions, goals, etc. but are still not satisfied. What are they missing? even their efforts to recreate a  conducive environment turns futile.

 

Stanza II

"I saw men search for a gain
To the extent of doing things insane
They go through a lot of pain
But all this they do in vain!"

If the second stanza of the poem is closely read in addition to the first, one will realise that there is a sense of pity and vulnerability being displayed in the atmosphere of the poem. So that, we see men trying one mean to the other but failing continuously, they try to build a laudable community but their efforts were described as vanity; they put up all manner of insanity and pain just in search of a gain but all these was in vain. Awww! what a shame. There is nothing these group of people do that is successful. Literary, I sarcastically compare these people to the man described in Psalm 1:1-3 to mock them, but that will sound disdainful so I will simply say these group of people are the direct opposite of the man in Psalm 1:3 and the exact replica of the Man in the verse 4-6. At these point the persona is arousing the pity of the reader Why? Pity evokes the feeling of love and the show of concern, so by describing the pathetic situation of these community of men the persona's intention is also to create the emotion of love in the heart of his readers towards these people. [Hymn 921 - The church's hymnal; 'Rescue the Perishing']

 

Stanza III

"Men seek for a greater future
Forgetting they are but a creature
Ignoring the call by nature
The fire of God they fail to nurture!"

One thing we have to state clearly as Christians to the world is that these world is never going to get better.The only  thing the Bible that is made to get better from day to day or grow from glory to glory is thee church. God has no intention of restoring these world because he has already made provision for a new one; the only thing God cares about is the church  and the lost in the world - those who are caught in the fantasy of this world thinking is real, cursing the politicians for not making it a better place for them; those who are hoping that Ghana will one day have a sustained electrical power; those who think science and technology will one day turn these Hades of ours into an utopia; those without any hope, without Christ - these are the people that 'seeks for a greater future'. Man can denounce the authority of God any how they want, but it still does not change the fact that Jesus is Lord. Instead simply accepting the truth, they chose to be called evolved monkeys rather; the  foolishness of God will forever be wiser than men. What do we see here, after the persona creates a scene of pity, he went ahead to blame man for his miserable condition. Putting the pieces together, the persona the negligence shown towards the call of God is the cause of all the perils they go through. Elucidating this claim of the persona, the reason why man has to accept that he is a sinner confess, and believe Christ in order to be safe has been brought to bare.

                                                    

      Stanza IV   

Turning to Jesus

"Oh! unto Christ may we now turn
From His word should we now learn
And His fire in us allow to burn
Then shall we begin to earn."

In the last stanza of the poem, a prominent transition has been nominally elicited. This linguistic transition from the omniscient point of view to the first person point of view redirects the recipient of the message. We now realise that the persona is not only talking to unbelievers but to himself, in this case, a representative of all Christians. The use of we and us shows that he is not the only one but others are also inclusive. Turning unto Christ is his main concern in this stanza; it is not just a concern of the persona but he also seem to present this as an ideal solution to the problems he stated earlier in the poem. The persona believers the is some kind of knowledge that can prevent the people of the world from perishing with the world (The world, as I said earlier, is doomed to perished is now your decision to either perish with it or not). This can also be alluded to the bible  quotation, for the lack of knowledge my people perished - So that, without the word of God these group of men will surely perish. The persona also talks about the fire of God that is in us. The words of the persona, we realised, are not for only believers but mainly for unbelievers. The question therefore arises, how can unbelievers have the fire of God in them? The truth is God has created us  with a lot of resources and one of these is the desire to worship which most people are either ignoring or misusing. Worshiping is a resource because it aids us to connect with our source who will then use us to achieve His eternal purpose. Only when God is  satisfied that we can also be satisfied, for now let's put Him first.

CONCLUSION

Be revived

I am encouraged personally as a Christian to stir up the fire of God in me, to turn to Christ and learn from His Word. There is nothing for us in these world; well, that seem odd because we have family and friends, houses cars, etc. all these are just means to an end which is to achieve Christ-to be

conformed completely to the image of Christ. We can use all these to fulfill the purpose of God for our lives. I also realise from the poem that we need to sympathise with the lost in order to win them for Christ. If you are reading this analysis and you have not given your life to Christ, please now is

the time to accept Christ as your Lord and master saviour and live for Him. May be you are a Christian, but you are joking with your spiritual life or you have backslided, this morning I pray that the Lord will restore and revive you and give you much grace to continue and finish the race well.

Don't forget to Share is to Care. You may not be able to do anything to rescue the perishing, but you can share this.
(If you do not share nothing will happen to you though because you are a child of the new Jerusalem.)
BE BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE.

ECOM! We are Family; We are One.