Special Creation of a Magnificent God

God obviously loves Man. This lets me think that since God does not do anything for show or without reason in all his Wisdom then there is something to Man.

Now if God will create man, establish a relationship with him, go out of his way to redeem him after disobedience and to this day is still inviting men, ‘come’, then there is something in man, that man is yet to know.

And maybe that explains satan’s envy that another has come to take his place. Maybe that explains satan’s anger. Because if God was just loving something that was empty perhaps satan would have nothing but mild anger or occasional disgust at the fickle object on which so much affection would have been considered a waste upon.

But we know God does not waste. Not time, not resources, not power, not anything. So if God Loves man, He must have poured something into Him that Man is yet to find out. This thing in Man, satan must have, at least, a passing idea about or He would not be so bent on making sure that man neither finds this ‘thing’ out nor sits in communion with his Creator.

I feel strongly that only in the presence of the Creator can man truly discover who he is and it stands to reason that a creature should be defined by its Creator.

You will never know who you are, what God has deposited in you- what He has invested in you, from the devil or any other place outside God. The devil might definitely know nothing more about you than a passing glimpse no matter how much or great he knows and He most definitely cannot bring to fruition or activate that which God has put into you. So, would you stop wasting time serving yourself, serving the world and serving satan? You will only be like a fish out of water.

You know that for all your seeming finery and power, you can never have one thing with the devil- your purpose. He can give you assignments. But He will never give you purpose.

He does not have it to give and even if he did have it from God, he (satan)  would not give it to you because it is in discordance with the plans he (satan) has for you- plans of destruction and to make sure you never make it back into union with your Creator, plans to make sure you never discover who God made you to be talk less of fulfill purpose.

The book of Jeremiah talks of the thoughts of peace and the expected end God has towards Man. It emphasizes that His thoughts towards us are not of evil. Luke 10.10 goes on to contrast the reason Christ came against the intents and works and of the devil.

If you forget anything, don’t forget this- that you are the special Creation of a Magnificent God. He is sold out on you- literally! Why else would He come to die for you? Now all you have to do is be sold out on Him. Trust Him, invariably, at some point, you’ll be glad you did.

'Natural' Pride

The devil himself was described as the angel that covered (Ezekiel 28:14). He was in the very throne room of God and ministered to the Highest. How did He loose such an exalted position? Pride!

It strikes me in the bible, the passage that says”… the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” (Genesis 3:8)  A Being walking in a garden in the cool of the day, even if it is the voice of the Being doing the walking, strikes me as a pretty down-to-earth personality. No airs. Definitely has time to relax and appreciate the finer things as against the stress and hogging that goes with attention-grabbing and acclaim-finding. My God strikes me as a pretty basic personality- basic not for the absence of aura or charisma, character or even utmost Power but because He is thoroughly unaffected, free from all affectations, down-to-earth and for all He is and has, He is totally without pride.

This One and Only God of all the worlds, Creator of all things was and still is so humble that He desires a relationship with clay in the form of Man. How much more basic can you get? Splendorous Light, All Power, Immortal, infinite All Wise God, wanted, wants and still wants a relationship with Man.

Man however is proud, tending towards self-acclaim, self-aggrandizement and self-will. You know nothing about who you are but you will sooner do what you will than find your true purpose through your Creator.

The problem of pride in man begs the question- why do we want to flaunt? Who is so important we throw away reason, humanity and even God to impress?

The God who created us, for all He was and is and will ever be has never put schisms between Himself and any of His creatures. Serve me is all He asked. Yet tolerates your disrespect and is patient with your fallen nature though He had nothing to do with it. Ultimately He makes your innermost desires His business to bring you unto perfection. I wonder sometimes why he bothers and it rings in my heart- what He put into you- begging the examination of the fact that perhaps humans, all humans, lose a pivotal truth about themselves, who they are just by refusing to be and stay in the presence of the One who created them.

Man would generally not stop except in the face of loss or imminent loss (if they are given the priviledge and they are able to receive and understand it) that life is so fickle, the things we chase after so ephemeral and the accolades we grasp so short-lived and undependable to the point of insanity, that it is mind boggling and terribly tasking on the brain of any right thinking person, why humans would disrespect, destroy and even kill each other for power, fame or money.

Yes, perhaps the social sciences would explain these away with terms like ego and the like and how it affects human behaviour. But I think expecting or even simply just explaining by these is the exact reason humanity as yet does not understand some of its 'natural' inclinations to be perfectly unnatural.

He is Omni!

Lamentations Chapter 3 got me. I could relate with it because it rang true in the spiritual dryness/disconnect I felt. Yes, I was praying, I was a firebrand- or at least lighting up, but I felt very disconnected from God.

For some reason the things I knew and had denied and gone on to disobey now taunted me. I had known them but not listened. I had gone on to disobey and now it seemed even that was being denied me- that knowledge, it's conviction. Not because I didn't believe them to be what they were anymore but because I had not believed them at the time when they could have saved me much pain...

Yep, dryness fit. I felt embraced but distanced. Loved but chastised. I know I am not going anywhere from God despite this because Job's declaration that 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him' (Job 13:15) has profound meaning to me now.

I know He's not going to let me go. I know he chastises his own. Even as I write I see already apparent pits to fall in. Luckily for me what you are capable of doing is not held against you. Only what you can do.

So I draw closer to Him. and draw on the Strength only He can give, I hide within the hedge only He can secure one in. And I wait... Patiently I wait as I am healed of every wound, every anger, every pain and every bitterness. Wounds from gullibility and foolishness, anger at God because I felt He did not protect me (but life exists by His Protection), pain from a sustained sense of betrayals and bitterness for things not being the way I envisaged or wanted them to be.

I learn you don't tell God- He knows. The sooner you embrace His Will, who He is, the easier the ride will be. You don't struggle with the Most High. Indeed, 'it is hard for you to kick against the prick'' (Acts 26:14).

He is Omni...

Called by Grace!

I had just finished my reports and I had called Onome to let’s go downstairs and talk. Our new office hardly afforded privacy and while there had been a time when I had thought what I was about to discuss with Onome had been public, I was not interested on tooting the particular horn before people yet.

Soon, Onome began to tell me about his brush with death via an accident that had taken place on his way to Delta state preparing for his wedding. Getting out of the car with barely a scratch in an accident where one person had died and several others bleeding was miracle enough. Hearing the entire story was humbling and mind blowing at the same time. I am certain an angel was involved.

Ebuka joined us and recounted his own testimony- how he and his brother with his family had escaped death by fire. I was stunned. This God was still in the business of saving lives and people.

It was not that I did not have my own experiences. I should be the last to deny my overflowing cup of testimonies. I was however seeing that what God would do for one, he would do for all. He loved His creation!

When Ebuka mentioned how he was ‘trying ’ to serve God and how distractions and temptations came despite all God had done for him. I felt he thought himself inept. Perhaps, ungrateful. I could relate. I felt I could see him beyond what he had said.

I told him God was not looking for perfect people. He perfects. He is not expecting us to deal with life’s problem’s, temptations and distresses alone and come to him with a ‘clean bill of health’- of having done things by ourselves- we couldn’t possibly!

All God wants is for us to come to Him with genuineness of heart, ready to serve Him, humble ourselves before him and live our lives for Him. I have since found that this is a daily decision and commitment. Daily, attacks will come, temptations and distractions. They must surely come. But once we have taken that decision daily, we are better able to stand.

The story comes to mind from perhaps a devotional I read which goes something akin to a small boy walking a tight rope to impress his mum and stretches out both hands holding nothing as he ‘does’ this great feat and excitedly shouts to his mum, ‘See mama, no hands!’

Even as I write this I can imagine the horror felt by such a mother. ‘No hands!’ I doubt God wants us doing such things with ‘no hands’. He definitely wants to walk you through everything in life and in your life. You have not charted this course before. Why ‘no hands’?

Then I am reading the book of 2^nd Timothy this morning and Chapter 1 verse 9 confirms what I was telling Ebuka. It says, ‘Who has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace…’.

It confirms that you have been called not because you are holy but because, if you let Him, you will be.