When There Seems To Be No Way, There Is A Way

Sometimes when people speak passionately from lack of experience and ignorance, it is okay to ignore them and keep quiet. At other times, we have to speak up in defense of what we have seen, heard, and handled.

Over 200 students were leaving an exam hall and coming one by one to shake my hands, all saying similar things around the context – “Prophet, thank you”. It didn’t matter if they were Muslims or Christians, they said the same things. Anyone who didn’t know what was going on but saw what happened that day would conclude that I was a very well-respected prophet.

The year was 1999, I was saddled with the opportunity to teach my set one of the courses people found the most difficult for the year – CHE305. I wasn’t chosen because of my strength in the course, I was chosen because of my strength in whatever is difficult. I had taught a complex course CHE 201 the previous year, and interestingly a number of my classmates had excelled very well in the course.

For this particular course, I somehow managed not to attend any of the classes. This wasn’t much of a problem though, as I had learnt how to take notes and read up myself. I had lost interest in attending classes in Part 1 when I discovered how big the classrooms were and how impersonal the lecturers were.

A few days before the exam, I was trying hard to understand the course sufficiently to teach it. As I saw that time was flying, I asked my friend and brother – Patrick Egbunonu to help me. I asked him to please explain the course to me, as he attended the lectures and was a very smart person. He told me he had not understood it all fully himself, but he tried to explain it. After an hour, I wasn’t excited about our progress, as I was billed to teach the same course that very night. He also had other meetings, so we parted ways.

I was desperate for understanding, so I took notes, and I was able to get some textbooks, and went to the “Sports Centre” (Sports arena, but used at night by students as prayer arena) to pray. I took my book before God and prayed for help, guidance, and illumination. I went to the sports center to read under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. After 1hour, not only did I understand the course, but I also felt persuaded that I had discovered what the exam questions were going to be the next day.

I went from prayer straight to class, where I had over 400 students all in my set across the faculty of technology waiting for me to teach the course. I told them very clearly and boldly that I knew what would be set in the exam and went on to write it on the board. I then told them that I would spend 5 hours teaching them the course and another 1 hour solving the exam at the end. I did exactly this, and the majority waited till the very end.

The next day in the exam hall, the questions were exactly as declared the day before. I could see heads turning around and people excited. I still meet people who recall this day and imagine what may have gone on in their minds in that exam hall.

Let nobody tell you that God is an imagination, or that he doesn’t hear or answer prayers, or that when we speak to Him, He doesn’t speak back. Don’t let anyone tell you that divine guidance is mental illness or that God does not reveal new knowledge, understanding, or the future to people. He does! If you are confused or unclear about anything, learn to seek God with expectations, you will be shocked at what is possible.

Kind Regards,

Adeolu Akinyemi.