"The master of the garden is the one who waters it, trims the branches, plants the seeds, and pulls the weeds. If you merely stroll through the garden, you are but an acolyte." -- Vera Nazarian
- The Third Character of this Passage Are the Poor, Fatherless, Needy and Defenceless
These are the disenfranchised people of the society that need help more than others. They are in every society. For them God expected personalities to arise in their defense. The disenfranchised in our society must not feel that they are disenfranchised, thanks to the activity of conscientious men and women who have decided not to live for themselves. Those who have taken the responsibility of the good of others upon their shoulder - the personalities.
In this passage however, they are left alone in their plight. They remain poor where they could have been delivered from poverty. They remain defenseless where they could have been protected. They are left fatherless where they could have been covered. They are left without justice where they could have been acquitted. They are left in needs where their needs could have been met. It is easy to see and understand the frustrations of God after examining the injustice meted to this category of people.
"...we should be remembered for the things we do. The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they've died. They're like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the Pharaohs. Only instead of being made out of stone, they're made out of the memories people have of you. That's why your deeds are like your monuments. Built with memories instead of with stone." -- R.J. Palacio
We are all alive to make a difference in our world. We are all sent here to make the life of somebody better. We were not created to live for ourselves or be consumed by our egocentrism. Friends, YOU ARE ONLY HUMAN TO THE EXTENT YOU SERVE OTHERS. It is for this purpose we should all aspire not just to live an ordinary life, but the extraordinary life, the life of a personality.
- The Next Character We See Are the Wicked and Evil
In this passage the wicked stands for everything that is evil. It stands for injustice, represents affliction, oppression, needs, poverty, fatherlessness, lack of justice, lack of defense, vulnerability, etc.
These are things that are making life difficult and unbearable for people in every nation. It could be said that they are agents of Satan sent to buffet the children of men. To counteract their advancement however, God sends to the world, his children, each and every one of us who will refuse to live for themselves, but embrace the life of service and sacrifice, to become a personality, fit enough to make a difference in the lives of other people.
"Abundance isn't God's provision for me to live in luxury. It's his provision for me to help others live. God entrusts me with his money not to build my kingdom on earth, but to build his kingdom in heaven." -- Randy Alcorn
When men refuse to pay the price of becoming personalities however, our earth is littered with wickedness, injustice, poverty, affliction, needs, fatherlessness, lack of defense, vulnerability etc. God's own answer is to let the personalities arise.
- The Next Character We See Are Ordinary Men, Mere Mortals and Sons of Earthly Kings
It is not the will of God for his children to live an ordinary life because God himself is a supernatural God, so by definition, we should at least leave a super life. A life out of the ordinary. A life of more than enough. A life of great adventures. A life of worthy goals. A life that makes a difference. A life of a deliverer. A life of personalities.
"History will judge societies and governments, and their institutions, not by how big they are or how well they serve the rich and the powerful, but by how effectively they respond to the needs of the poor and the helpless." -- César Chávez
But when children of God are unwilling to pay the price for the formation of their personalities, they die like ordinary men, like mere mortals. This grieves the heart of the master. Hence, he laments that, you my children, you are supposed to be gods among these people, because you are children of the most high. But instead, you have abandoned your responsibilities and you have begun to live like ordinary, earth beings. Since you have refused to see and walk in your authority, since you did not carry out the function of a defender of the defenseless, representatives of celestial justice, you are now left with the only option of dying the death of mere mortals. You are now reduced from the level of gods to the level of ordinary men, sons of earthly kings.
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That scripture in Psalms 82, depicts to us God's expectation of how he would have liked the earth to be run. He put a lot of the expectations of running the earth on his sons and daughters. But for this to happen, these sons and daughters must mature, grow and become sons of nobles. In Genesis 1: 26
Then God said, "Let Us make man in our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
Sunday Adelaja is a Nigerian born leader, transformation strategist, pastor and innovator. He was based in Ukraine.
