The village of Nangruma, in Ghana, has no trained pastors. As a result, I usually visit them to share the Word of God. The members of this fellowship used to meet in a classroom, but the last time I visited them, they were holding their services in a dilapidated thatch shed. They told me they have been ejected from the classroom because some locals in the village accused them of always making noise.
I asked them whether they would like me to plead to the chief and his elders to release the classroom for them to continue to worship there. However, Nbatima, a man who’d accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior two years prior, gave me this Koma proverb: “Lagɩŋ juule yaa nyʋʋsɩ!” (Together, living has smoke!)
I asked Nbatima to explain the meaning of the proverb to me. He said that if you live together with another person under the same roof, and the other person does not like you, anytime you set your fire, because the other person does not like you, he or she will always complain that there is too much smoke in the room.
Idiomatically, this means once someone does not like you, he or she will always find fault with whatever you say or do.
Nbatima told me that if I should plead for them to be allowed to use the classroom, they would still find another excuse to complain about them or even eject them again. So, he said, they would continue to worship in the dilapidated shed until they were able to build their own structure.
The Word of God has enabled Nbatima and his fellow believers in Christ to know God in a way that has made them more tolerant of those around them, more content in their situation and more hopeful for their future.
I am sure there will be many people in heaven who came to the saving knowledge of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, because of Koma believers and their dedication to God and his Word.
