WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN

 

As a Christian or rather as the Beloved of God, what first comes to mind when bad things happen to you? Are you like me who will always think its God’s judgement or you are like that friend of mine who believes every bad thing comes from the devil?

You remember I mentioned in my previous post that my laptop charger blew over the weekend right? Now here is the full gist.

I woke up already feeling lazy to go to Church that Sunday morning; practically all my clothes were dirty (No, let’s get it straight, I’m not a dirty kid... I've just been busy☺) I kept fighting my conscience to stop screaming inside of me, but eventually, I lost the battle especially when I remembered that the brother who took the opening prayer last Sunday asked us to pray against the hold of the devil on people’s lives emphasizing that it is not normal for someone to wake up and not go to church.... I was like hell no! The devil’s got no hold on my life so I’m going all the way to church even in my dirty clothes.

I lazily pushed myself out of bed and got into the bathroom. I had just barely started washing my body when I heard the sound. Immediately, my intuition told me it was my laptop charger and I had to violently shake my head to knock off that thought.

As soon I was out of the bathroom, I headed straight to where I had plugged my laptop and viola, there it was, my power pack ripped open in two halves. Should I say I was surprised? No! I was completely frustrated and within the next minute, a myriad of questions ran through my mind... Why did God allow that happen; where did I go wrong; was I using my laptop in a way that didn’t please God? What sin did I commit in the last 24, 48, and 72 hours, this week or even last week? In fact, my mind travelled as far back as three weeks ago when I had bought the power pack; did I not thank God enough when He had miraculously provided the money? And as I paced up and down the room thinking of how to get another four thousand naira and get a new one, I was also toiling with the idea of crashing into bed and just sleeping through my frustration.

But as I inched closer to my bed, I heard a whisper, that familiar voice, not in my ears, in the deepest creek of my heart... “will you let the devil win so cheaply?” It was all I needed. I pushed aside my frustration and I got ready for Church.

Why did I have to bore you with this story of my life? Because I want you to know, that when bad things happen, it is not always the devil messing around with your life and also it is not God doing that Righteous judge thingy... sometimes and many times, bad things are just natural things that should happen because one and two are not in sync. (Well, you can disagree with me on that; nothing just happens... that’s perfect, and we don't always have to agree) In my case for instance, we had had a number of explosions around the house the previous night; three bulbs, the boiling ring, a phone charger etcetera and that was due to some electrical malfunctions around the house, and since the electric fault wasn’t rectified, it was only a matter of time before my power pack joined the list... nothing mysterious about that.

But here is something else. As a child of God, there’s always the good and evil battle constantly going on in your life, and while a seemingly bad occurrence may not be directly occasioned by God or the devil, the devil may quickly want to capitalize on it and put a dent in your Christian confession making you feel like God is not as loving as He claims to be.

In those times, we must learn to look on the bright side of God’s love; we must learn to take sides with God and trust that He is faithful beyond circumstances. Never let the devil take advantage of an otherwise innocent situation in your life and use you to get back at God (By the way, never negotiate with the devil, that my neighbour has nothing to offer)

You are God’s chosen specimen and He is counting on you! Have a great day.

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