God, Abeg.
Hello Readers. If you have been following my unplanned series of articles, then yay! Thank you so much. If this is your first, I hope you read the 3 previous articles here, here, and here. It’s like a journey so you’d need to read the others to flow with the journey.
Last week I wrote on one of the most sensitive topics of our faith — God’s goodness and its veracity in the face of the challenges we face. Today, I am writing on a statement we make very often — perhaps you’ve uttered it in some form this week — God abeg.
I just googled what the phrase “God Abeg” meant, and I actually found material! An article here on Medium by Ifeoluwa A. defines God Abeg as, an intense cry for help. We cry God abeg or its variant an awful lot. When there is a delay on our way out, when NEPA (or whatever variant they call themselves) seize power, when we feel tired — we are never out of reasons to cry God abeg. And not that it’s an offence. That’s not what this article is about.
This Article is about the deeper form of cry we utter when we do not understand what life has thrown at us. The one we cry under pressure. The one that is usually the precursor to questioning God’s goodness. I’m not here with answers, just with a suggestion of a different, more helpful perspective we can have concerning life and its seasons.
One of the reasons we struggle with God a lot is that we fail to understand the system God’s world operates on.
Our selfish human pride and reasoning have led us to a worldview that centres around us. While in reality, everything revolves around and is centred on God.
Our self-centred mindset is what makes us question God’s every move. We can only see ourselves, not beyond ourselves. So anything that doesn’t serve us in the interim is a threat to us. Well, this is a terrible mindset.
God has been writing a grand story from time immemorial. Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul, St. Augustine, Martin Luther, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., John Piper, Bishop Oyedepo, Reverend Amos Mohzo, Nenkinan Deshi, and you just get to play a part in that grand divine story.
We truly are nothing but pencils in the hands of the creator. Our little, short lifetimes are orchestrated by God so that we play our part in God’s redemptive story for his world which has been in progress from time immemorial. God reserves the right to decide our lifetimes, how we are born, how we live, and how we die all to achieve the aim of his creating us Vis-à-vis his glory alone and the redemption of creation.
Here’s what I have chosen to practice and I hope you do too. Next time life throws a fastball at you, instead of crying and shouting “God Abeg”, or “Why Me”, admit your pain and confusion to God but ask,
“God, what are you up to and how can I be part of it”.
See, we save ourselves and God a lot of stress when we adopt this heart posture. You can cry, “Why Me”, stop believing, and pull away from God for a year, but afterward, you would return, and his purposes would be accomplished. So, learn to ask God what his plan is, it makes the journey quicker.
These lives we live, are not our own. They belong to God. For him and to him are all things. I’m tempted to begin a whole other discourse on what the points of our lives are then since it appears we are on death row and have little say in what becomes of them. But that would be in the next article. Shoot, I just promised another one (*groans internally).
All I have been writing on are topics touched on in my book, “Bended But not Broken”, released last September. You should read it. The good news is, I am now giving it out for free! Send an email to mcdesh4lf@gmail.com if you would like a free copy.
Till next time, Ciao!
