God…. Probably one of the most powerful words known to man. It’s just 3 inconsequential letters from the English alphabet, but when aligned in this fashion, it has the power to start wars. So powerful that it sometimes inspires men to sacrifice everything they have, including their own lives.
Many bow down before this word in reverence, while others mock the ‘believers’ and drag this word through the mud. God – a word that simultaneously unifies and polarizes. God – a word that is simultaneously a blessing and a curse. God – a word that is perhaps destined to be shrouded in mystery for eternity.
Sleep does not come easily to the ones who are troubled, (or the ones who took a siesta in the afternoon) and as I lay awake in the dead of night, it’s only the ticking of the clock and this word – God, that has been keeping my brain cells working. Am I a believer? I don’t know. Am I an atheist? Probably not. I guess I’m somewhere in the middle leaning towards the believer section.
Perhaps there is no God. Perhaps everything is just coincidence and there is no deeper meaning or cosmic justice. Perhaps God is something that man created to make other men believe in a higher power – a power that the ingenious man who conceived this concept, could mold to his liking. Perhaps this ‘molded’ God helped control the minds of the people so that a few could wield power over them all. GOD- something that you cannot see, hear, touch or feel, and yet you believe. A belief in something that cannot be calculated or scientifically ascertained, and man called this belief – FAITH.
Nevertheless notwithstanding how it came to be, today a vast majority of the people associate this word, subconsciously at least, with another powerful word – HOPE.
“I hope to see her again.” “I hope to hold my baby in my arms”. “I hope to see another sunrise”. It’s these statements that inspire men to carry on. And without HOPE, our lives would come to a halt. If there was nothing to look forward to, you’d struggle to find a reason to continue living. This is where, I’ve realised, that men need GOD.
It is true that men turn to GOD only when things get difficult. When all their calculations fail, and they do not know what their next step is. The most earnest prayers come from men who’ve lost everything and are groping in the dark for something to hold on to.
What I’ve realised on this sleepless night is that when things don’t go the way you thought it would, when things are difficult and you feel you’ve lost everything, the “believers” find their HOPE in GOD. They start praying and believing that GOD will find a way.
But if you have no faith, where will the “HOPE” come from? Where will you turn to when things become difficult? If there are no men around to throw you a rope, what HOPE will you cling onto? How will you push yourself through another night?
I do not have the answers to these questions. So I pray to GOD and HOPE that one day, he’ll send me the answers.
