By M. U. Adikwu
God’s Disappointment with Man
For a man that is wealthy, possessing a lot of money and all that is required in life to have a beggarly child who lives as a poor wretch is usually a heartache for the parents. If that makes meaning to the reader, then we should note that no rich man is comparable to the All-
rich, All-powerful God. All the things you see on earth are actually below what God can do. That is because what we are seeing are actually the shadow of the reality.
A man with perfect relationship with God and has seen heaven where Truth and Reality have their origin, he will be able to say that all I am trying to put down are actually understatements. If that is how rich and powerful our God is, why are we disappointing God by failing to use these provisions? What a disappointment we are to Him. In some cultures, in Nigeria, people have killed their relatives who went mad because he is seen as a disappointment to the family. Others have killed their children who changed religion because of disappointment. Others have been chased away from home for living below the expectations of their rich parents. Many of the stories of saints who came from rich homes, showed that they were seriously humiliated for rejecting richness and embracing poverty. Even for us as individuals today, many of us take the vow of poverty but never live any life of deprivation. At least, it is an abuse to our status, we think!
When God created man, His intentions for man have never been imagined and will never be imagined. All that we were told is that everything in the Garden of Eden, he should freely eat (Genesis 3:16). Yes, everything man needed was available to him. The Garden of Eden
God made for man was indescribable because it had a river with four branches. For many of us, building a personal house with a swimming pool is usually the talk of the town. For this Garden, it had four pools! (Genesis 2:10-14). Not only the river but the land surrounding the rive was endowed with all forms of precious stones!
Adam did not pay dowry before marriage. It seems that those things we work for these days and boast of as achievements are actually meant to be free. How pitiable a father will see his child when the father buys a car free-of-charge for his son, and the son says, “Thank you sir,
but I must work for it!” In the same vein, if a father builds a good house for his son, and he decides to live in a rented house, where he has to work and look for the money, his father will be very disappointed.
One may ask me, why God decided to place any law at all for man not eat the tree at the centre of the Garden (Genesis 2:17). No matter how wealthy a father is, does he not put some restraints on his son so that the son can depend on him and grow up properly. Is there any father who because of love and wealth will tell his son to behave anyhow? And that the son can set cars and houses ablaze and even lie with the mother? If all these are allowed, then who is in charge? The forbidden fruit was only a tree of dependence upon God. Immediately man ate that three he became independent of God. Any man that is fully dependent upon God has no limitations while anyone who is independent of God is completely finished. Once man fell, he became a selfish being. The man that God had formed He intended to participate
in His divine nature since he actually possessed this nature.
There was to be perfect unity among humans as there was and still exists in the God- head, the Trinity. The new nature man acquired from the devil was opposed to this. Thus, in Genesis 3: 8-10 the Bible records: “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” Remember that most things that lead a man to hiding are sinful. No man will want to do something lawful and then decides to hide. In fact, the action of hiding is itself a separation. Hiding is simply saying, “Darkness, cover me.”
Hiding from God is seeking refuge in Darkness. God is light and once we hide from His source of light, we give ourselves to the devil, the source of darkness. One of the greatest disappointments God had with man is this loss of fellowship with him and giving ourselves freely to the devil. God is a God of fellowship. Just as a lover likes to stay with his loved one, so also God likes to fellowship and remain with him. He wants us primarily to remain close to him. The attitude shown by Adam in the above statement shows a great level of separation, not only from God, but also from his wife. Do you wonder then why man finds it difficult to stay at peace with his wife? He used 4 “I s ” as if here were alone. It seems that Adam forgot that he was with his wife. He spoke to defend himself and not the woman with him.
The Lord God who likes fellowship called Moses to the Mountain thus: “Come up to me into the mount and be there …..” When Moses went up to meet the Lord, he was there, covered in the cloud, for six good days (Exod. 24:15-16). It was only the seventh day that the Lord began to speak and to instruct him about the Ten Commandments. For six days, the Lord was just having personal fellowship with him. In Mark 3: 14, we are told Jesus ordained twelve that they should be with Him and that He might send them forth to preach.
The purpose of Jesus ordaining the twelve was primarily that “they should be with Him.” The issue of sending them forth to preach was secondary as the Bible used the word “might.” Fellowship is a primary call of God upon our lives. In Luke 10: 38-42, we are told of the story of the visitation of Jesus to the house of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy cooking for Jesus and his disciples while Mary sat fellowshipping with Jesus. When Martha approached Jesus to release her sister Mary for the Kitchen work His reply was simply, “Martha, Martha, thou are worried and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Staying with Jesus and thus fellowshipping with Him is superior to even food.
Many people, including those working in the Lord’s vineyard are today performing below expectation because of lack of proper quality time with God. Many are too troubled about many things and as such cannot take enough time out to pray. God is, as such, disappointed with our performances. Even in our secular jobs, many of us are performing below the expectations of Heaven. The Issue of Greed and Selfishness Heaven expected perfect unity and love among men where everyone makes contribution to his neighbor’s existence on earth. Unfortunately, this was thwarted by the fall. God is therefore seriously disappointed in
man pertaining particularly to his greed and selfishness.
When the Lord God called Adam in the Garden of Eden, look at his answer once more, “I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself.” Genesis 3: 10. This answer presupposes that Adam was alone. Everything was “I”. That is the life of fallen man. Everything is about himself. Adam must have hidden with his wife in the same place, yet he never recognized her presence. I expected Adam to have said, “we heard thy vice in the garden, and we were afraid, because we were naked and we hid ourselves.” This was however, not the case. Do you then wonder that Adam had to give a name to the woman God gave him? She was simply “woman” in Genesis 2:23 because she was the bone of his bones and flesh. Adam simply said, “She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.” After the fall, this idea completely changed. The story became, “And Adam called his wife’s
name Eve because she was the mother of all living.”
There was a change from “bone of my bones” to “mother of all living.“ To the man, the
woman simply became the producer of children. The woman was being simply told, “Your duty from today onwards is to produce.” Do you then wonder why many homes are broken when the woman fails to produce children? And these days, woman must not only produce children, she
must also produce money. In many countries of the world, women are simply the burden bearers. They must produce and bring up the children; they must produce the food for the family. They must produce the water that the entire family needs. They must bring home the
firewood that the family needs to cook its food.
Those that call their names darling, honey, my own, etc., do they know that none is as wonderful as simply calling her “woman”? Each time you call your wife “woman”, you are simply calling her “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” If only we will learn this. It is the height of love any man can give to his wife. It is a name that brings unity. Do you know
that in the Bible Jesus often referred to His mother as “woman”? He saw and recognized the power and beauty in this name, woman. In John 2:4, the Bible says, “Jesus said unto her, “Woman what have I to do with thee? My hour has not yet come.” Again, on the cross, “When
Jesus therefore saw His Mother and the disciples standing by, whom He loved, He said unto His mother, Woman behold thy son.”
Even after the resurrection, when He saw Mary of Magdala standing and weeping by His tomb, the angels never addressed her by her name. They simply said, “Woman why weepest thou? “ John 20:13 Jesus also called her first, “Woman why weepest thou, whom seekest thou?” It was the failure of Mary to recognize Jesus (John 20:14) that made Jesus to call her “Mary” probably in a tune that will enable Mary to recognize Him. Woman is the heavenly name given to women by the glorious un-fallen man. The names we give our female children today
are part of the greed and selfishness that heaven is lamenting about. Many give some names to show how religious we are or to show that is the most beautiful and unique name in town. You may even see idol worshippers calling their children “Agatha”! What hypocrisy! The beauty
of a woman is her character that reflects the “bone of my bones’ and not how sweet the name is in the cheeks.
Immediately after the Pentecost experience, the Bible records that all the disciples were together and had all things common (Acts 2:44). This is the plan of heaven. God wants us to see all things as common so that we can possess it without pride or selfish ambition. Do you know the greatest disappointment of God with man today? It is the spirit of competition among them. Every man wants to ride the best car in town, or build the best house in the city. If he is given the opportunity, he will prevent others from buying such cars or building such houses. This is why there is no peace upon the surface of the earth.
A man is ready to go to any length so as to be praised and thought superior to others. Many sacrifice their wives and children. Others bury people alive just to win a political contest. Others see other races as inferior. Many species of human beings eat other species. A friend told me that the name cannibal is because of some human eaters who sacrificed their children to the Phoenician god called Baal. The name cannibal, therefore, originated from “Canaan Baals.” Whether this is true or not, the same practice is here with us and is even worsening as men approach the devil for power through various sacrifices. I do not see this abating because he is as true as he was during creation and the deceit of Adam and Eve. Every Christian must be on guard not to disappoint God. Going to the devil is like leaving a Father who has all things and going to another who has nothing.
For this reason, God was very disappointed with the Israelites for leaving Him to choose different useless gods who brought only misery and disaster to them. Unfortunately, many of us, like the Israelites have chosen this path of misery in the name of earthly possession in pursuit of fame and wealth which are the trademarks of the devil. Do you know what the devil said to Jesus? “All these things, will I give thee, if thou will fall down and worship me.” This desire of the defeated devil has not changed. Once you want a piece of the earth, you must fall down and worship the devil unless God is the one giving you a piece of that earth. Thus, many wicked men who have died may even have streets named after them because they actually fell down and worshipped the devil.
The story in the Old Testament clearly shows how God was disappointed with the
Israelites. He sent them Judges and Prophets to correct them but to no avail. Shall we continue to disappoint God as they did? Remember that they did not have the opportunity that we have of experiencing Jesus. Jesus would tell his listeners that if Sodom and Gomorrah had heard the
message we are hearing, they would have repented. May God help us in this matter, because in all generations men have disappointed Him but He has always had a remnant? In the generation of Adam, Abel was the remnant that pleased God. In the generations that followed, we could talk about Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, e.t.c.
Won’t you want to be among those that will not disappoint God? Men who did not disappoint God had one thing in common. They were a disappointment to the people of their time. Are you too busy with trying to make yourself famous and as such make a name for yourself? Certainly, you will be a disappointment to God. Men who did not disappoint God were not popular. Why their names seem popular is because the Holy Ghost wanted their names to be brought to the fore. I do not think Abel was popular, neither was Enoch. Similarly, neither Noah nor Abraham was popular. At best they were ‘mad men’ who ;hear spirits’ for their generation. Will you want to be counted as a ‘mad man’ for God?
Adikwu writes from Abuja and can be reached through +234803-437-8988; email: adikwum@yahoo.com
