IT SEEMS GOD HAS GONE ON VACATION

Does God Exist

A particular woman has been frequenting my office recently to ask for help from my boss. As she was explaining herself the last time she came, I took note of some rare facts. She said that she belong to a prayer group that prays everyday from morning to 12 noon at the stadium; that they pray for individuals and companies like ours. She said that God has been laying it in her heart to meet my boss for help; she complained of a whole lot of problems like house rent, children’s school fees, etc. She also said that her pastor encouraged her to come and ask for help from my boss. Like other days, she left without getting the help. As she exited from my office, somebody who overheard our discussion asked some bothering questions which are: Is praying a vocation? How can she spend all her time praying without any vocation? Why did God lay in her to meet somebody to solve her problems and not also lay it in the heart of that person to meet her needs?  If prayer is the only solution to her problems why has God not answered her, or has her God gone on vacation?

So many things are happening today that people are asking: where is God? Presently, it seems many Christians are living and taking shelter under false hope. Things have gone wrong and no one seems to have a solution. People are dying of hunger and hopelessness. Talents, potentials, destinies are wasting on daily basis because there is no means of nurturing them. Evil is reigning over good. The wicked prosper in their wickedness, and they are gradually recruiting the righteous ones who are helpless and defenseless into their circle of wickedness. Christians have resorted to prayer because of hardship, but it seems God has gone on vacation. The more seed they sow, the more problem they face. The more Christians pray, the more problems they incur; especially those who are not employed and who cannot start something on their own. To so many people, church has become a ponzi platform where you provide help to only pastors and and either get help by struggling afterwards or struggle in vain without any help. Fake pastors have infiltrated the building called church and their mouths are filled with ponzi messages instead of God's Word. The new face of MMM now parade the church buildings as pastors and men of God and people are confused on who to turn to for solution. Many people have asked over and over again: Where is God? Does He exist? If actually He exists, has He gone on vacation?

God Will Never Forsake His Children, any Logical Proof?

Isaiah 49:14-17 says: “But Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Your children hasten back and those who laid you to waste depart from you”.

With this assurance and many more of God’s steadfast love, care, protection and continuous presence with us, why does it seem that God’s promises of love is not realistic in the lives of the majority of His children? Why does it seem like God has forsaken us? God is not the problem but we are because we have refused to make His presence known.

How Big Is Our God?

No matter how fervent, long, much we pray, if we don’t put it to work, we will continue to feel that God has forsaken us. God has given us all the assurance we need, to convince us that He will never forsake us. God said He engraved us in the palms of His hands, meaning that He sees us every moment as long as He has His palms with Him. He expects us to act with His mandate in order to feel His presence and make His presence known. If David had gone into prayers alone to save the Israelites from the philistines, he would not have defeated Goliath. Prayer is the key but we need to put it to work, using God’s mandate. God cannot come down from heaven to do what we are supposed to do because He has people to do that.

Even The Heathens Experience The Testimonies We Give

There is no distinction between the righteous and the heathens as we can see today. We go to church to give testimonies about safe delivery of our children, the contracts we won, smooth graduation from high school, acquisition of a new car, house, etc. The heathens also enjoy those blessings and more. They enjoy the sunshine and the rain; they also enjoy life and sound health. Disasters that come to them like accidents, sickness, rape etc also affect the righteous. So what is the distinction?  People always ask. What is the evidence that God will never forsake His own children when they are the ones that suffer the most? The point here is that God is the God of all.  He said He will make a distinction between those who serve Him and those who do not (Exodus 8:23) and He never fail to keep His word. The problem is that we lack knowledge. The content of our prayer is poor. In Malachi 3:13-18, the righteous one seeing and hearing of the prosperity of the wicked never gave up on their God. They rather encouraged one another with the assurance that God will visit the wicked with their wickedness. They did not bless the wicked neither did they envy them. They talked God into making a distinction as He promised. We have refused to search the scriptures with understanding and report wickedness to God for justice. The heathens work hard to prosper in order to dominate the earth; the wicked intimidate the righteous and channel our God given resources to their selfish ventures while the righteous only pray and look up to heaven for miraculous manna and quails, and if such magical expectation was not met, we tend to be hopeless and frustrated; we feel that God has forsaken us. Abraham served God and even though he had a challenge of childlessness, which God is a party to, he was the envy of his generation. He worked hard and was wealthy. People around him benefited from his wealth and it was clear to them that his God is different. God has given us talents, resources and man power; let us put them to good use so we can be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth, subdue and dominate it as God commanded us to in Genesis 1:28. Then it will be clear to us that God has not and will never forsake those who serve Him.

When God Frowns

Most times, God frowns at the frailties and errors of His children. That does not mean that God has forsaken His children. According to William Cowper, a Hymn Writer, “Behind God’s frowning Providence, He hides a smiling face”. God created us for a purpose and that purpose was made known to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. God sent His Son Jesus Christ to come and redeem our souls from the power of sin that can lead us to destruction; and Jesus Christ did give Himself as a sacrifice. That sacrifice alone shows that God will never forsake those that His Son died for. Jesus Christ finished His work and left us to continue with the task of reconciling men back to God. God’s heart beat for sending Jesus is for all to have eternal life. Jesus said to Peter three times: If you love me, keep my sheep” (John 21: 15-17). This shows that His priority is to make sure that His children are not starved of His Word. This feeding includes making sure that everything that will make His children vomit the amount of His Word that they have consumed and anything that will hinder them from hearing God’s word is dealt with. This is to make sure that people will not continue in their sins. That is enough evidence that God will not forsake His children. There are too many churches today where people go to hear the Word of God. The Word of God is preached in the buses, market places, streets, etc. Despite this, the crime rate is high. Kidnapping, prostitution, armed robbery, rape, drug abuse, illegal migration, destruction of lives and properties are becoming the norms of our society; yet, most of the perpetrators all go to church. Have we stopped to ask ourselves why this is so? We need to read the handwriting on the wall. In as much as people need the Word of God, they also need food on their tables, job security, financial freedom, sound health, etc. The possibility that a jobless man with so many financial issues will retain the Word of God for an hour is minimal. That moment he is reminded of his problems is the moment he will vomit the Word, and the alternative to survival will start running in his head. People go to church to find logical answers to their problems; the problems that evil rulers have created by way of siphoning and diverting public funds for selfish purposes. When people fail to get the answers that they seek, God frowns because He knows that those problems can make them a slave to sin. It seems the Word of God these days make no difference to people’s lives. The Word of God is losing its value in people’s lives today and God is not happy. It has become a mirage to so many people. People need to know how to apply the Word of God to better their lives. As people fellowship with one another, they want to feel that they are valued members; they need to be encouraged and motivated by way of promoting their talents, helping them to learn a trade, get a job, etc. By so doing, they will not be distracted in their service to God. God has called many men and women and positioned them to feed the hungry sheep but it seems they are too busy building cathedrals, flying jets and stooping so low to reason with evil leaders who are busy playing politics of selfishness with people’s lives. How will a man of God feel if his member dies and goes to hell because of one pressing need or the other that pushed him to sin. Men of God are human and they are equally tempted to sin a times because of one pressing need or the other; how much more their members. Let us do what we are supposed to do and stop making God a liar because He will always be true to His Word. He will never forsake His own.

Is God A Beggar?

It seems there are a high tendency these days to bribe God through tithe, seed sowing, offering, etc. in order to get God to be on our side and work for us. When God said He will never forsake us, He did not demand all that. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24: 1). So why does it seem He wants our penny for Him to be on our side? We were not there to donate a penny when He created the heavens, earth, seas, animals, etc. Tithes, seed sowing, offering, etc. are to pledge our allegiance to the Almighty God and to honour Him as our creator. When King Solomon was set to build a temple for God, all the gifted, talented and skilled men worked sacrificially to build a house for God because they know that Solomon was working with God. They were not coaxed to do the work. Our church leaders should follow God’s heart beat, which is meeting the needs of the poor and needy. They should report the evil leaders that are impoverishing the citizens of this country to Almighty God. They should issue decrees, warnings and proclamations that will shake the evildoers and the enemies of Nigeria; like Samuel, Elijah, etc. did during their time.  By so doing, God will judge the wicked and make a distinction between the wicked and the righteous as written in (Malachi 3:13-18), thereby, creating an enabling environment for the righteous to prosper and serve God with all their hearts and resources. Our church leaders should not let their comfort zones close their eyes to the sufferings of people. God’s words are not mere theories. People want results. When we do that which God expects from us, God will be pleased to handle the rest His own way.

God’s assurance is very strong. Even if a mother forgets the baby at her breast, He will never forsake His children. God has given us so much: Talents, skills, resources, etc. and He expects that we put them to work; to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth and dominate. Obedience to His word will prove to us that He will never forsake us. If God has not kept to His promise, by now, nobody will say anything against the government in power and go free; I bet you, people will be dying in silence because of too much burden of imposed silence.

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi