There are stories abound of devout people who left the fold, who left the worship of God because he didn't answer their prayers. People who didn't understand the reason why God would let bad things happen to good people or people who couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that God didn't grant their request despite their diligent work in his service, and for this reason they are offended and may fall out of the faith.
We will provide two simple examples to back up this post— two stories we're possibly quite familiar with: (i) the first is an absolute peach of a verse for me, the careful irreverent attitude of the three Hebrew boys—Shedrach, Meshach and Abednego to King Nebuchadnezzar, and (ii) the sober Passion of Jesus Christ.
The Three Hebrew Boys (Daniel 3:16-18)
We all know the story of how they refused to bow before the statue of the king. Verses 16 and 18 especially grab the attention. KJVs translation of the verse 16 is particularly eye-catching, it reads:
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
We are are not careful... [You are the king, they royal authority, but we are not careful, in this matter, we couldn't care less who you are.. The nerve!] Some other versions translate, we do not to defend ourselves.. we do not need to answer you.. it is not right for us to obey you.. but as mentioned, the spirit of divine defiance is especially captured in that translation, "we are not careful.."
Forgive me, I digress. To buttress the point outlined in the topic, let us consider verses 17 and 18:
If the God whom we serve is able to save us from the blazing furnace and from your power, then he will.
But even if he doesn't, Your Majesty may be sure that we will not worship your god, and we will not bow down to the gold statue that you have set up.”
But even if he doesn't.. we will not bow. These men were prepared for God to fail them in that matter, to the point of death. Their faith wouldn't waver even if God didn't save them from the king's fire.
The Sober Example of Christ's Submission (Luke 22:42)
“Father,” he said, “if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.” (Good News Translation)
Not my will, but yours be done.. even to the point of death. There's nothing more sobering than the fact that he had the power to change things at any time, if he so wished, but he decided to submit to the will of the Father.
In essence, the bold claim of this reflection is simply to provoke a deeper faith in God when things don't go the way we want. That we have our plans, wishes, requests, goals, dreams, and aspirations, but we hold God's will, however inconvenient, superior to our own desires.
Final Thoughts
The song "Thank God" by Omawumi and the late rapper Dagrin resonates something deep. I translate:
Every time I spoke to God, I heard nothing,
I didn't know that Heaven was planning something..
This is a call for us to allow for times when we feel let down by God. In those times when we feel like God has failed us. Perhaps in the long run, he's planning something better, let us hold onto that. Yet, despite that hope, let us have the radical faith of the Three Hebrew Patriarchs, that even if God doesn't "save us" or "help us," He is still God. So, we give Him room to fail us, for He is God, regardless, and we believe in him, regardless.
And I beg to ask the questions:
How do we hear from God?
How do we know his will?
How do we know our purpose?
Till next time,
Iyanuoluwa.
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