Just like the 911 incident in the New York Twin Towers, the death of Nipsey Hussle, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Prince, Attorney Johnnie Cochran, Actor Kristoff St. John, Bernie Mac, and so many others, no one saw it coming. We all have questions about the unbelievable, sudden deaths of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna and the seven passengers.
And in these shocking moments where we have come to know and love these people, it seems unfair that they would leave so soon and in the manner in which they did. Therefore, we often find blame as a reason to ease the pain. So many times, when there is no one to blame, people often blame God.
Recently, I heard someone ask of Kobe’s untimely death: “You mean to tell me that God would let someone like Kobe die in a plane [sic] crash when they just left church, paid tithes and prayed to God before getting on the [plane]? Then this person goes on to say and ask questions like these:
“At the end of the day, does God owe us anything?” “God did not promise us anything.” “God is not obligated to do anything for us.” “We don’t have a right to question God.” My response is, it all depends.
Let’s start by answering questions and responding to the statements of the individual who has a lot of questions here.
These are similar questions that I have heard so many people ask when there is a tragedy like the one concerning Kobe and his 13-year-old daughter.
Let us begin by addressing this person’s statements.
The first statement this person made is: “At the end of the day, does God owe us anything?”
The simple answer to this question is, “Yes.” God does owe us. God owes us His word. Here is some of what His word says: “He hears and answers all prayers”. “He will never leave us nor forsake us”. And we “have life and have it more abundantly”. And finally, if we ask God for more years, He “will grant it” to us. These are some of the promises God has given us and He owes us His word on it.
- In the first answer: God owes us His word. One of the many things God tells us in His Word is that He hears and answers all of our prayers. However, when we do not pray, there is nothing for God to hear. That may sound snobbish, -it’s not. It’s the truth. When we do not pray, we miss out on a lot of the promises that God has given to us. This is why prayer is important. The absence of prayer is sin. Sin when it has manifested, creates death and destruction. God does not cause death and destruction in life. He gives us His principles to live by to protect us and to ensure that we obtain His promises, which are manifested through prayer. We’ll explain more on prayer and why it is important for our life later.
The next statement to address made by the individual is: “God did not promise us anything.”
Wrong again.
2. In the second answer: God made numerous promises to us in His word. One of those promises is that we can live a long, abundant life. But God will not usurp your will. This means that God will not go against your will. If you ask God for a long life, He will give it to you. If you request a short life, you will probably experience a short life. But God is not that petty in that He does not just give you everything you ask for at the moment you ask for it. But He does listen to your requests. What usually happens is that many times, it is the individual that lives life in such a way that it will sometimes respond to you in the way you live it. Other times, it is because we do not take the time to listen to what God has to say. In this regard, one may miss or misinterpret what God’s plan or will is for one’s life. This is where most people miss hearing from God:
a. When prayer is absent from your life
b. When we are too busy to spend time with God to find out the important things He has to share with us
For instance, remember we stated previously that the absence of prayer is sin. God made a covenant with us that He would protect us, provide for us, never leave us nor forsake us. And I can go on. But what happens in the absence of prayer is that we miss the opportunity to express our concerns, make requests and communicate with God. These missed opportunities also cheat us out of a response from God. God established prayer as an opportunity to remain in close intimate contact with Him because this is His way of informing, guiding, protecting and keeping us. A failure to go into prayer and stay constant with it is a detriment to anyone who fails to pray.
While in prayer God reveals secrets that even the devil cannot interpret or understand. God’s Word is spiritually coded just like the source code of a computer’s operating system. Unless the code is revealed, one will not know how to interpret the coded language to conduct, what is called in intellectual property law, a reverse engineering.
Reverse engineering in intellectual property is the ability to rearrange, dissect and inspect every part of one’s expressed idea that culminates into a tangible product, to determine how it works and to ultimately, duplicate it. But this is not the only reason.
The main reason one would want to duplicate someone’s expressed idea is because there is great value in doing so. Like with God, there is great value in the reverse engineering of His Word. This process of reverse engineering can bring revelation and new improvements to what already exists. The Word says, “We shall do greater works.” Revelation from God helps you to live greater and do greater than yourself.
Therefore, the benefit of prayer and communicating with God is to gain revelation, which is inside knowledge that only God has. In fact, God is known to give you in secret the plans your enemies have made against you. These plans, when known, will cause you to change your plans and go a different route. And if that route is routine, then the enemy knows exactly how to trap you.
Who is our enemy?
The enemy is anyone or anything that is not in deference to God. Anyone or anything that is hostile to God, is an enemy of God. Did you know the mind is hostile toward God?
In a future post, we will go deeper into our discussion, where we will address more questions from a biblical perspective surrounding Kobe’s untimely death. And we will explain why the mind is hostile toward God.
As always, my goal is to help you take care of your soul by Giving You Strength for the Journey.
Blessings,
DrWendy, Ordained Minister, Certified Biblical Counselor, Biblical, Life and Relationship Coach
Giving You Strength for the Journey! 