God Has Proven He Is Indeed A Nigerian

The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfills Himself in many ways. Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of… If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer… For so the whole round earth is every way, Bound by gold chains about the feet of God (Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), Le Morte d’Arthur.

AMIDST protracted pain and suffering, a cynical world jeered at Nigerians, wondering how we could still be the happiest and the most God-believing people in the world. We have been told to rise from our knees and walk on our feet because our problems defy prayers. Over time, we have been tempted to believe that our religiosity is merely an excuse and a compromise for corruption. Many of us have been tempted to think that perhaps God has turned away from us because of our many sins. I have spent the better part of the past year trying to encourage our people not to panic or lose hope. When people ask the basis of my optimism, I have answered that I am a Christian, and faith is the commodity I market even to a cynical world. However, nothing prepared me for what we have just witnessed this holy week. INEC chose the holiest period of Christianity, a time when the heavens are open to receive our fast and prayers, to organise its elections. How God works! Today, we could say that God has proven to us once again that He is indeed a Nigerian. I, therefore, wish to focus on a few themes by way of this Easter message to Nigerians.

Have Faith and remain obedient to God

Notwithstanding our foibles, God has remained patient with us. We know that patience is a major attribute of God. The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in loving (Numbers 14:18, Ps 86:15, 103:8). Joel adds to this when he says: Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and relenting of evil (Joel 2:13).  Abraham and Sarah remained faithful despite being childless. Abraham obeyed God when called upon to offer his only son. In return, God does far more than Abraham could ever have contemplated (Gen. 22). That is why Abraham remains today our father in faith.
Faith is surrender, not a transaction with God

Our relationship with God has tended to be transactional, behaving as if all we have to do is to placate God. It is good to remember that while we struggle through the days and years, while we create a calendar of activities and plan what we shall do, God has assured that He has our plans and us in the palm of His hands (Is 49:16). He is our shepherd and we shall not want, even when we walk through the valley of darkness, He is there (Ps 23:1,4). Therefore, God’s love and faithfulness is not dependent on us keeping our part of the bargain, as it were. No, God is always faithful and what God asks of us is surrender our lives to Him, Who loves us and in Whom we trust. From the book of Job, that even unearned suffering has its meaning. Trusting in God, surrendering our lives into His loving hands, we seek to do His will and obey His commandments: in faithful surrender, we seek to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbours as ourselves.  

Faith is a gift of God

Our nation has been weighed down by religious intolerance built on ignorance. Many ignorant so-called believers have turned themselves into demi-gods who own religion. They believe that it is only their variant of religion that God accepts, that it is only their mode of prayers that God accepts. They have formed believers who have faith but do not have reason, and who, therefore, easily become fanatical. They have thus built a wall around their followers and have turned their communities into breeding grounds of hatred. We need to remember that faith is a gift from God and that religion too is a gift from God since it is an expression of faith. Freedom of religion as enshrined in our Constitution must be guaranteed. This must include freedom to change our faith or not to believe in God. This guarantee of freedom can be helped by strong laws, but it is every teacher and every believer who must ensure those laws are kept. Threats of punishment, ostracisation, banishment, death, or denial of rights, only lead to hardened hearts. St Francis said we should preach our religion by the witness of our lives and only use words if necessary! It is only authentic witness that will draw people to our faith.

We are children of One Father

As believers of different faiths, it is imperative that we show one another that we are all children of One Father. We have tended to express our unity in the exchange of gifts and salutations, sharing food during our sacred feast days, but we must do much more. In the course of electoral campaigns, both Muslims and Christians were going around asking for prayers, attending Churches, Mosques, and Shrines. Why does this show of tolerance and accommodation not continue after the political campaigns? We as believers, especially Christians and Muslims, must begin to show greater solidarity in concrete terms. We must end the divisive culture of Christian and Muslim prayers in public functions since this only deepens our sense of difference. I am in full support of the adoption of the second stanza of our National Anthem in opening or closing public events.

God answers prayers

God’s ways are not our ways and the way we think is not the same as the way God thinks (Is 55:8). Therefore, when we think that God has not answered our prayers, the opposite is the case. This is what Easter reminds us. With human eyes, we see in the passion of Jesus evidence of one abandoned by God, evidence that all this was a fraud. However, in the end, the old rugged cross becomes a treasure. It is only our faith; patience and trust in God that can enable us experience the triumph of His will, especially when we face serious challenges.
• Bishop Matthew Hassan KUKAH is Catholic Diocese of Sokoto.