“Omo, this Christian race dey hard oh.” “Chai, I don tire for this thing self!” “I no go do this one again, abeg!” Written in pidgin English, these three statements echo the same things: one, that the Christian journey is filled with challenges on the way, and two, that giving up is the easiest option. Even if we don’t use the same language or mannerisms to express it, many of our walks with God are punctuated by phrases or slang of dejection, despair, and pseudo-hopelessness. The unfortunate reality is that while it seems easy to give up on God, the costs of doing that get compounded rapidly and exponentially fast. Let’s examine our consciousness in those periods.
I grew up in Nigeria, an environment where electricity was rationed. If the electricity was on for over 12 hours, we would worry that something was going wrong. It was almost like we expected it to go off at some point, and whenever the power was restored, everyone would shout, “Up, NEPA.” If it went out, people would do other things, look for alternatives, or sleep earlier. No one expected the light to be constant. Like my experience, perhaps we agree and affirm that we cannot remain on the mountaintop. We believe that sometimes we are on the mountain and other times on the valley. Maybe we say that the only thing constant is change. Like a sinusoidal curve with consistent peaks and throughs, we see our lives as consistently living ups and downs. If we stay a month on top, we find ourselves ready to subconsciously fall to the ground so that when the temptation comes in, we yield in naturally as expected. After a while, when our emotions are down, we feel sorrow, and then, after receiving encouraging words from friends, we get back on our feet and start the journey again. With time, we console ourselves at best that rising and falling is the limit of our Christian life, so we choose to make the best when we rise, only waiting for the time to fall. At worst, the devil weakens us to the point where we give up on God and on living a consistent life and go into apostasy. The truth is that neither of those options is ideal, as they are lies from the pit of hell. God hasn’t given up on us but wants more from us.
We can use scriptures to allow for our failures and lack of consistency. One example is the story of Joseph. Knowing that Joseph went to the pit but found his way to the palace, we might agree that when our relationship with God is absent, we are in our pit, and when it is present, we are in the palace. However, a close examination of Joseph’s life shows that he went through the pit and the prison, but his relationship with God remained consistent in those different environments. Further examination of God’s word indicates that God indeed promised that the path wouldn’t be easy, which was why he said though we walked through fires and waters, shadows of death, thousands falling on right and ten thousand on our sides. Even Jesus said they’ll hate you. Thus, the external circumstances and situations would vary. There might be ups and downs in our environment and experiences, and the reason is that we’re in the world. Disappointment, loss of lives and properties, delays, setbacks and stumbling blocks, and so many difficulties- too much to mention- might abound. However, these are just the storms of the oceans that life throws at us and are not even our major problem. The problem only comes when we look away from God and focus on the environment and the challenges around us. Remember, don’t conflate your environment, circumstances, and situations with the presence or absence of God and, thus, your consistent walk with him. The tempest raged in the sea, but Jesus was still in the boat. The fire was heated seven times, but Jesus was still there with the three Hebrew men. The hungry lions were in the den, but God was still with Daniel. As long as you focus on God, you can consistently fellowship with God and find the strength to overcome any storm. The question then is, how can I find that strength?
Eagle, shut up and fly. One haunting image I recently had was a scenario where an eagle was kept in a cage to entertain people like a parrot. Because the eagle kept learning and repeating what was said around it, it became a source of entertainment to the people around it. Perhaps we are like that eagle, and although we have great wings and strength in different limbs, eyes that can see far, and height to climb, we are currently providing humor to those around us. The only things we say are the lies repeated to us by those around us. That’ll subconsciously form our new realities, and we become an echo chamber, living to seek the approval, praise, commendation, admiration, or respect of those who did not create us or ourselves. The people around might have good intentions; they might be in our families, church members, colleagues at work or school, or even friends. Yet, despite their good intentions, their opinions of us become our opinions, and we view life through their lenses. That would, unfortunately, make us inconsistent as our walk with God becomes an emotional rollercoaster. The first thing to do is to shut up. Keep quiet and be silent. Block your ears from that lie and fly. How do you fly? The Bible gives us the strategy in Isaiah 40: 31: “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.” Unless you wait upon the Lord for yourself, you might live the life others have dreamed for you, not what God has ordained.
A final aspect of this is that you have to wait. The scriptures used the word wait because it would take some time. You have to be intentional about waiting on God. It shouldn’t be hard for you because you have waited for a long time for many people. You might have waited for their approval, suggestions, opinions, attitudes, and biases. Now, God is calling you to wait on him. Take away those distractions from your life. Maybe you love your friend's validation; deny yourself of those this time around. As you commit yourself to him, the Holy Spirit will tell you things to do and things not to do. The things he tells you to avoid always come up as distractions, and it is not doing them that He insulates you from their effects. Sometimes, God isolates you to insulate you from things that could hurt. Sometimes, like He did for David, he keeps you in the back to prepare you for something. As we said, the environment God puts you through is for a reason in His wisdom. You would be fine if you follow Him and abide with His word. Have prolonged exposure to his word, wisdom, and ways for your life. You’ve lived outside him for so many years, and learning a new reality might take a while, so subject yourself to him and his word. Finally, even though his will is not for us to fall, there might be times when you fall as you take the baby steps. As long as you desire his sincere milk of the word and move forward, you’ll find yourself standing on your feet, running, and soaring to the utmost heights by His grace in Jesus' name. Put into work what God has deposited within you. You can live a victorious and overcoming life despite the storms you face. God bless and prosper you significantly.
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