Sometimes
people are faced with severe problems in life that could make them
think God is unfair to them. Fred Adetiba, here explains why no one
should ever feel abandoned.
Illustrative photo
Recently, I posted a short message on Instagram to encourage some
people out there who might be going through tough times. The world
generally is tough. People are going through different degrees of
challenges. The economic recession we are experiencing in Nigeria has
worsened people’s problems. I decided to share a message of comfort
assuring them of God’s love even in the midst of their challenges.
While I received a few responses saying how much the message shared
had encouraged them, I also got a direct message (DM) saying: “From
your recent post, even as making God my friend, He does not seem fair
to me. I think this God you always talk about is partial”.
From the tone of the message you would know that the sender is
actually a friend, whom I have had conversations with around the subject
of the love of God a few years back. I was amazed and taken aback that
she could still be holding such a view of God. I know she’s still
working on her relationship with God like everyone of us, yet her
response indicated that she’s yet to be assured of the love of God. I
responded to her by simply saying God is not partial, and promised to
respond in detail through this piece, which I hope would reach others
out there who might have the same view of God.
A number of things immediately ran through my mind after reading
her direct message, most of which were questions. After all these years,
how could she still be in doubt of God’s love for her? What has my
friend been learning about God and her faith all these years? Is love
not supposed to be the basis of our relationship with Him? As these
thoughts were flowing through my mind, it occurred to me that the devil
might have just succeeded in blackmailing God to my friend. This might
sound strange but it does happen when we allow it as believers.
How the Devil Blackmails God to Us
The devil blackmails God to us by feeding our mind with wrong
thoughts about our persons and God. These thoughts are usually the
opposite of who we are and what God’s thoughts toward us as His children
are. One of the ways the devil achieves this is by simply putting all
our protracted challenges in front of us and reminding us of how many
times we had prayed to God about them without any respite. As these
thoughts become deep rooted in our hearts, we started complaining and
grumbling against God rather than have a conversation with Him about the
issues.
As this continues, we become excessively focused on the problems,
and by doing that we make them the centre of our lives rather than God.
It is at this point that despair, anxiety, fear, worry, etc. set in,
which do not resolve the problems, but instead cripple us in the
process. In some instances, they degenerate and have health
implications, such as hypertension. This could also lead to desperation,
which could push us into making costly mistakes.
The devil also blackmails God to us when we compare ourselves with
others; particularly our friends that we think have lesser or no
challenges at all. Somehow we think those we compare ourselves with in
this sense are having it easier in life. I used to be here many years
ago myself. I used to accuse God of being unfair to me in my early years
as a believer, just because I thought some of my friends were having it
easier in life. This continued until I got a sharp and very strong
rebuke from God. This is what the Bible has to say about that:
“Not that we [have the audacity to] venture to class or [even
to] compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonials for
themselves! However, when they measure themselves with themselves and
compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and
behave unwisely” – 2 Corinthians 10:12 (AMP).
Just as my friend said in her message, some of us also have the
wrong perception that God is partial, and therefore loves some people
more than He loves us. If you look at it from natural senses, it could
appear as if God loves some people more than others truly. That is not
the case. As we are different and unique as individuals, that is how God
loves every one of us uniquely. We are not the same before God; we are
different and unique. That is why the Bible refers to us as living
stones with which He is building Himself a spiritual habitation (1 Peter
2:5). No two unshaped stones are the same. They come in different
shapes and sizes and can fit together to build a physical structure.
That is how we are before God.
As we are different and unique, that is how God’s purpose and plans
are for our lives. This is what makes our individual processes in life
different and unique. Some have privileged background, while others do
not. Some are tall, others are short. Some are born Caucasians, some
Asians, some blacks, etc. These differences do not matter to God. What
is important is the purpose He created us to accomplish for Him in the
earth. One thing we must realise is that because God loves us uniquely,
and has given us unique purposes to fulfill for Him, our processes in
life have to be different and unique to us as individuals. These
processes could be similar, but they are never the same thing.
The devil also succeeds in blackmailing God to us when we are not
grateful for what we have. When we focus our attention excessively on
the things we do not have or things that are going wrong in our lives,
we find it difficult to see the good things that we have going for us.
And when we do not see anything good about ourselves, we find it
difficult to be grateful to God. There will always be someone who is
richer, more beautiful, more intelligent, and more successful than we
are in the natural sense. In the same vein, you are richer, more
beautiful, more intelligent, and more successful than some persons out
there. Moreover, these natural interpretations and definitions do not
matter to God. What is important to Him is what we do with our lives
viz-a-viz His plans for us.
When we are not grateful for what we have; when we compare
ourselves with others and when we focus too much on our problems, we
have the wrong perception that God is partial, and unfair to us. This
perception of God is simply the devil blackmailing God to us; making us
question and doubt His love for us, even when He shows otherwise. Apart
from the assurances of His love for us in the scriptures, He
demonstrates His love for us on a daily basis. While it is devil’s
business to ruin our relationship with God, it is our responsibility and
in our best interest to resist him.
This part of the article has focused more on helping us understand
how the devil can blackmail God to us. The part to follow will address
how we can break free from the devil’s blackmail. Do not give room to
the devil to assault your mind. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” – James 4:7
***
Written by Frederick Adetiba, a HR Practitioner, Researcher and
good governance advocate, is Head of HR/Administration/Finance at Premium Times. He can be reached via fredor4c@gmail.com and @fredor4c on twitter.
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