Are you underestimating God?
INsights 067, Friday 6th December 2024
Are you underestimating God?
INsights 067, Friday 6th December 2024
Is there a link between underestimating ourselves and underestimating God Himself?
Is there a link between these underestimations and a lack of urgency or clarity with respect to one’s vision?
I believe so.
How will everything work out?
Many people don’t construct a clear, God-centred vision because they can’t immediately see how everything will come together in aid of their ambitions.
But maybe that’s a result of relying on oneself at the expense of relying on God.
Did He not pose the rhetorical question, “Is God not enough for His servant?” (39:36)
Did He not say, “Whoever relies fully on God, He will suffice them.” (65:3)
How many a dream has been put to death by the devilish whispers, “It’s not possible…” and, “Be realistic…”
If we were to rely on our Lord in the way that we should, we would appreciate that none of our high aspirations are beyond the Most High to fulfil through us as His agents of change on earth.
We would realise that our ignorance in relation to every detail of how to bring our respective visions into reality will be more than compensated by the One who sees, hears and knows all.
You don’t need a precise pathway as much as you need a precise goal that motivates you like there’s no tomorrow.
Scottish mountaineer William Murray put it beautifully when he wrote, “Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”
Without hoping for and witnessing the divine response to sincere and consistent effort for a worthy aim, to risks taken and sacrifices made for His cause, one must wonder whether one has truly lived at all.
What does God deserve from us?
There are three phrases in the Final Testament that follow the same, powerful structure, which translate broadly to doing or not doing something as much as is God’s right, as much as He deserves.
The most famous of these is in the following verse, typically recited at the start of Friday sermons: “You who believe, be mindful of God as much as He deserves (ittaqullaha haqqa tuqatihi)…” (3:102)
Then there is the rallying call for us to, “Strive for God as much as He deserves (jahidu fillahi haqqa jihadihi)…” (22:78)
These two commands invite us to an endless journey of further developing our God-consciousness and putting ourselves, and everything we possess, on the line for Him as much as we possibly can.
But then there is a third example – which He repeats three times – where He tells us what people don’t do as much as He deserves, which is to hold Him in due estimation (ma qadrullaha haqqa qadrihi). This implies that we don’t revere, honour, appreciate or value His capability as much as is warranted.
People do this with respect to His creative power: “…those you call on beside God could not, even if they combined all their forces, create a fly […] They have no grasp of God’s true measure: God is truly most strong and mighty.” (22:73-4)
They do this with respect to His revelatory power: “They have no grasp of God’s true measure when they say, ‘God has sent nothing down to a mere mortal.’” (6:91)
They do this with respect to His ability to resurrect and have all of existence under His control: “They have no grasp of God’s true measure. On the Day of Resurrection, the whole earth will be in His grip. The heavens will be rolled up in His right hand; how exalted He is, how far beyond those they associate with Him!” (39:67)
If creation, revelation and resurrection are all within His capability, what then of our noble aims intended for His pleasure which, in the grand scheme of things, are small matters for Him no matter how grand they might seem to us?
Don’t doubt yourself… or Him!
If the thing that’s been stopping you from building or pursuing a clear, God-centred vision is the presumed impossibility of its fulfilment, then these words have been primarily intended for you.
Bitter cynicism and crippling apathy in relation to God’s cause can be so tempting, often representing flimsy disguises for our self-doubt and our preference for worldly aims, but they deserve no place in our minds and hearts.
When we realise that self-doubt could be a form of doubting God’s ability to achieve the thing through us, the true believer stops doubting faster, getting on with what they know deep down is the path to pursue.
“True believers are only those who believe in God and His messenger, leave their doubts behind, and strive in God’s cause with their possessions and their persons. They are the ones who are true.” (49:15)
Don’t approach your future or your vision with an attitude of limitation or short-sightedness.
Instead, do so with an attitude of abundance and vastness.
Because God is not limited.
He is abundant.
He is vast.
He is capable of doing anything and doing it through you… if only you would open yourself up to great possibilities.
No matter how great they seem to be, Allahu akbar... God is greater!
Until next time.
Peace.
Iqbal
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