If one looks at the ecosystem and the background of creation, one cannot but wonder in amazement at the perfection created by God. As far as I am concerned, the only imperfection in the world today is ironically the creation put in place to rule the earth – man under the full influence of the devil – perhaps God’s only mistake.
If you look at the animals, the birds and the bees, you will see how they survive, purely on the land wanting for and lacking nothing, regardless of what part of the world they are in, they adapt quite easily to nature, and survive.
The main fear or difficulty is being prey to others; but in nature, one thing is food for the other. If you look at the act of childbirth, you will realise that all other animals give birth effortlessly in multiples without any pre- or post-natal care or even pain. It is only woman that obeys the Biblical injunction of suffering pain at childbirth.
Similarly, it is only man that goes through the effort of toiling for his survival (what we now call work), also in line with this same Biblical injunction – a result of man’s first sin. His disobedience of God arose again, ironically, out of the benefit of the greatest gift to him from God – freewill. Isn’t it painful that it is these same gifts given to man for his comfort and superiority that have led him to his greatest adversities?
The good book teaches us that for his own part in the first sin, the devil, represented by the serpent, has continued to crawl on its belly.
God, however, wants man to repent and come back to Him, and he will be provided with every comfort. That, today, has been the essence of man’s life, the basis of his creation and reason for his existence – a permanent struggle to return to God. I believe this is the bedrock of the principles of being born again.
The devil, however, continues to play a prominent part in man’s self-destruction and distancing himself from God. I see the devil at work in various parts of the world, especially Nigeria where there is really no peace. The devil’s intent is to destroy God’s creation, ruin it and put it to waste. Man’s reason for existence is to preserve it and lead himself back to God.
I am irrevocably convinced that the source of most of man’s suffering in the world today is man himself and his Godlessness – this inability to care about anything but himself alone. It is very painful for anyone to suffer in a world of such outstanding resources, freely provided by the Almighty. There is nothing that man needs that is not provided; his main struggle is to tap into these resources.
In Nigeria, we as a nation have to move closer to God. We have to pray to God for forgiveness, protection and direction. Otherwise, how do we explain these things? If we could find only one man, with Nigeria’s genuine interest at heart, the result is a most refreshing change. If Nigerians could move closer to God and pray for a solution to our leadership choices, perhaps we would be able to move forward.
If we trace the history of our nation, especially form 1979, when corruption became very bold, you will see that the reason Nigeria is in such dire straits today has been due to corruption and waste on a very massive scale. You find that it is only in nations where the rulers are not wealthier than the nations they rule, that there is some iota of sanity and progress. I am not saying that these nations do not have their own problems, also created by the devil in various ways, but it is certainly not one of national poverty and a destruction of the masses through economic mismanagement. In Nigeria today, the reason our naira exchanges for 240 to a dollar is simply because we are paying the interest on the waste and consumption of people who had the cheque book, who we put or who put themselves into the charge of our affairs.
We must pray hard in Nigeria that the “devil” must stop his work among us, curb our spirit of personal greed and self-aggrandisement to the destruction of 160 million others and provide us with the right leadership. We must not only pray hard, we must work hard towards it. May the good Lord hear out prayer, forgive us and shower His blessings on us, Amen. May He help us in the fight against evil.
