Weekly Digest vol.3

THE IRONY OF GOD'S LOVE (part one)

_Omotayo Oni

“…Let not my way prevail against your will, rid me of affections and obsessions that have become part of my living self”, this was my unspoken prayers as the week almost slipped away still wondering on what to share with friends on this week digest. My pen oscillating between some piece of creative words or a message that can only be meet for a chosen few.
The second verse of Deuteronomy chapter 8 resonates within the walls of my mind, like I have never read it before, saying: And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. This hit me quite hard as I wonder if I have not by any means falter in my trying times. The future with God does not belong to the best of his men but to the faithful and the trusted, this made the Christian journey almost incomprehensible.
I quietly observe how those who loved the saving Cross of Christ are somehow offended by its cruel dealing with the life they planned out for themselves.
Many Christian secretly finds themselves discrediting the justice scheme of God. “God is not fair” several resolved. Our Christian voyage falls down a flight of stairs, landing us in a world of nightmares, “why would God allowed this to happen to me?”, “This isn't what God has said about me” we question our reality. “My ungodly friends are living lushly and sumptuously, I sold myself out to God with hope to be better off” wondering if the years of service ever worth it.
The reality of any man chosen to be use by God begins from setting out of Egypt to the wilderness. What sounds like 'frypan to fire' contrary to the motivation that got us leaving our comfort zone in bid for a greener pasture. We soon wish we have done things differently as circumstances set us up to rebel against the lordship of the God who called us out of Egypt.
Many started out the Christian journey without counting the cost, many loved God but are passionately preoccupied with themselves too. Wishing to bank on Gods love to enhance their soul begotten ambition, signing a contract with God without reading the terms and conditions. “And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it”. Luke 9:23&24. Clearly, our own plans don’t often workout alongside his. Exceptions to this however is if you truly never entered an agreement to walk with him or your self-will prevailed against his divine purpose; which of course means you impliedly or expressly choose to return to Egypt or waste away in the wilderness.  You have got to be deliberate if you will make anything meaningful in the kingdom. God will never shape a man he has not crushed, our inborn traits and gifts are not sufficient for his services. The cross await anyone who dares to come after him, the quarry for him who dares to stand tall as a priestly figure of faith and of course the fiery furnace await the gold that seeks to become a Jewel.
The hammer must dealt a great blow on the steel, smiting harshly against the anvils; this is the only way the blacksmith can forge his blade. Over six hundred thousand people left Egypt, only two faithfuls made it through the wilderness to the promise land; and not even Moses, the set man that led them out could witness the end of the journey. The human nature is wired to rebel against the ordeals of the wilderness, except the nature is allowed to die. This is what God seek to achieve with us, to shape a pure selfless man (vessel) in whom he can pour his glory.
Our many trial left us wondering if God really loved us, the beautiful promises of the bible is nothing close to the reality that awfully stares at us. “Why would God allowed this afflictions?” this became a question that desperately hunt for answers. Here is why it seems God stuck out his children from his bosom to give them to trying times considering his words in Deuteronomy 8:2.

1. To humble thee
God seeks to humble us under his mighty hand, to bring down the pride of our hearts and hide it from us; to lay us low in our own eyes, and clothe us with humility, that the Lord alone might be exalted: this he achieve through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the Kingdom repudiated every external thing and have routed from their hearts all sense of possessing. These are they who are the "poor in spirit". They have reached an inward state paralleling the outward circumstances of the common beggar in the streets of Jerusalem.

2. To prove thee
God seeks to know whether we would be obedient to his laws, or how we would behave towards him both in prosperity and adversity, and to try our graces, our faith and patience, fear and love.

3. To know what was in thine heart
The heart of man is the prime target of God. The heart defines a man in entirety. God knew all that was in a mans heart but will constantly revisit it if only he will find such one like his, that is why proverb 4:23 admonish us to guard our heart with all diligence. The heart is naturally prone to wickedness, unbelief, rebellion, frowardness, “… God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart”. 2 Chronicles 32:31

4. Whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or not
We must insist that the cross of Christ crushes our human nature. We dare not rest content with a neat doctrine of self-crucifixion. That is to imitate Saul and spare the best of the sheep and the oxen. A partial obedience will not do. Insist that the work be done in very truth and it will be done. The cross is rough and it is deadly but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies. Then shall come the effulgence and the revealing of the godlike nature in a man that is now an emissary of light and grace to his generation. (...to be continued)