God's love

I have always loved stories told in the bible. They are told simply like African fables with twists and turns and always ending in a lesson. The numerous stories direct to the same direction. That despite the general sinfulness of man, if he strives in earnest, God will always forgive and restore him. Sometimes though, it is after long suffering and paying dearly and could go on for centuries.

When I was younger, I thought God was like a policeman, he was benevolent when you did good or punish when one erred. How in God’s name (paradox) would he finish a whole population with water? It rained for forty days and nights continuously to wipe out a whole generation of evil men. This always baffled me. How was the water contained? How did it drain off earth? And the hard on hearing Jonah, inside a whale’s stomach? Just like that? And he survived? Am sure if I were him I would never again sin. The Bible is awash with many stories that give life’s practical lessons.

Every time I think of friendships, I think of David and Jonathan. Am worried that our friendships in the 21^st century are becoming too distant, withdrawn, and parasitic and too “App’s based”. We must gain something from them. You find the virtues of friendship including loyalty; comradeship and dedication are no more. We end up with many acquaintances but very few friends. Jonathan saved David from Saul who was his evil father, a true mark of friendship. He knew his friend David did not deserve to die.

Sodom and Gomorrah. Mmmhh. Remember this story? It gives a back drop of when the earth had become filled with great filth. God was greatly displeased with what man was doing on earth. People were eyeing the wrong people and it was just a cumbersome time. Lot pleaded for God’s mercy and as usual God agreed after a long tet-a-tet that if only he found a handful of holy men that he could save them. Only if, He could find a few. And so he saved Lot’s family on condition that they did not turn back when escaping. The turning back was a test that they did not want or miss what they were leaving. Lot’s wife had not fully decided- She turned and become a pillar of salt. God did not want a return of the thanklessness of Israelites. They who had left Egypt to the promised land decided they missed melons.

My favorite story in the New Testament is that of the Samaritan woman at the well. The Samaritans were never to speak to Jews and vice versa. This story is the longest recorded conversation that Jesus had with anyone in the Bible. When Jesus approached her she knew it was different. She spoke the truth when asked to go call her husband to come drink the living water. She said,” I have none”. She was living with a man who was not among the previous five who had been her husbands. Jesus then went ahead to teach her about the living water. The Samaritan woman went ahead to preach and become a witness of the living water. Needless to say she never turned back.

We live indeed in a crazy world where sometimes evil looks like it prevails or where sometimes things don’t make sense. Where for example has the big Malaysian plane with 239 people gone to? It has not been spotted with the world advanced technological machines of 2014? Many of us have been brought up in the ways of the Lord. Sometimes we may look and doubt what we were taught. Too many of the preachers of water today spend too much time drinking wine. But one thing in my opinion remains, there lives and exists a sovereign God. He is watching over us and his grace is never ending. How else would you explain that no matter how much pain you feel at one point in time, regardless of it being physical, emotional, and or psychological it eventually cools down?

Sojourner.

Love your God whomever you deem him to be. Respect other  people's right to love theirs. I doubt at the end of the day there is an Almighty who sends people to kill others to show how much they love him.