President's Prayer. People's Perspectives.

The world was getting ready for its annual indulgence in pomp and pageantry, romp and revelry, to mark the coming of New Year.

And in the country of Sierra Leone, its President called for prayer and fasting as they all begin the New Year.

Needless to say, people being people, and opinions being opinions, there was an immediate outpouring of diverse arguments.

From heartily appreciating him for looking at God, to harshly criticizing him for abdicating his responsibilities, there was a strong expression of a wide range of emotions.

The awakening he caused with his words, I think, was somewhat greater than the awakening in the country caused by the huge number of deaths, and the high growth of Ebola cases since March 2014.

And Ebola, incidentally, is the real reason for this call.

From his State House in capital Freetown, President Koroma, on December 30, called for a seven-day national fasting and prayer, in response to the continuing exponential rise in the number of Ebola victims.

Without mentioning dates, he said that all Sierra Leoneans – Muslims and Christians - should start the New Year by committing the nation in prayers and fasting, so that “we can have the kind of divine direction and grace that is required.”

With 7,800 deaths from Ebola in West African countries - Sierra Leone alone lost 2,582 lives – and with Ebola having affected more than 20,000 people in the world now, the situation is far more serious than the world thinks.

The President’s words, however, angered many people who say he is simply sub-contracting his job to God.

Instead of effectively garnering resources to combat the spread of the deadly pandemic, he is shirking from his responsibility, and is delegating his task to the Power above, is the argument of some.

They say they need a strong and capable leader. Not someone who shies away from the task at his hand, and points us all to heavenly realms -- when the problem is very real, and completely terrestrial.

Celestial or terrestrial, I believe, will be an argument that will never end. But pragmatic effort combined with divine guidance is not really a bad statement of hope from a country whose leadership is struggling to effectively combat - if not to completely cure - the deadly ill.

I am reminded of a biblical story of Prophet Jonah who goes about the Assyrian city of Nineveh preaching to everyone- just as God had commanded him - that God’s wrath is coming on to the city.

After a few days of passionate doomsday preaching, the prophet goes and sits at a vantage point on a hill, watching and waiting for the city to be destroyed.

Interestingly, however, the king and the people respond to Jonah’s words by fasting and praying for several days.

God relents. And the city is saved.

Seeing this, our man Jonah gets upset. He feels that all his work has gone waste.  

But he is immediately reprimanded by God who tells him God can save his people if he chooses.  And that a prophet must just be an obedient messenger.

This old story of Jonah is not an analogy.  It is not meant to show parallels.

It only asks a question.  In facing today’s problems, is it old fashioned, and is it irresponsible, to pray?  

I do not think so.

People and prayer coming together need not be a defeatist act. It could actually be a potent combination.