Does God deserve sufferers’ praise?

When asked about the purpose of his life, John Charles [not his real name] does not blink an eye.

“I was born to suffer, suffer and suffer again. God has proven through my life that he has his chosen people whom he cares about while neglecting the rest,” said John.

Probably, he is correct.

John has lived the whole of his life grieving; he has never tasted love some children enjoy under the care of their parents.

Since his birth 14 years ago, John and his siblings have lived on begging on the streets of Limbe in Blantyre.

During the night, verandas of shops belonging to businesspersons of Indian origin serve as their home where they sleep on cartons discarded by merchants.

“Life is not easy on the streets. All we know is suffering and more suffering,” he said.

John said some people wearing skins of ‘Good Samaritans’ have promised them better lives, but none of them has fulfilled their promises.

John and his siblings believe their suffering clearly demonstrates that God neglects some of his creation.

Thus, although the scripture is full of the praise of God for his loving kindness, people who are going through difficult situations, including John and his siblings, believe the creator does not deserve their praise and worship.

Both the Old and New Testaments are sprinkled with injunctions to sing his glory: “Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequalled greatness (Psalm 150).”

And through 1 Chronicles 16:23, God instructs humanity to “sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.”

However, when struck with a catastrophe of some sort such as death of a beloved one, loss of a job, road accident or joblessness, many believers have wondered why God still needs their praise and worship.

The questions that usually come to their minds are: Why should I praise God? Does God still deserve my praise when I am going through the worst of life challenges? Am I not supposed to praise God when he has saved me from calamity or given me some favours?

Along this line of thinking, John asked: And if a parent is careless, does he need praise from his children? Of course, we believe in the existence of God. But should do the extraordinary for him to answer our prayers? Isn’t he supposed to act differently from human parents?

But Father Henry Saindi of the Roman Catholic Church says it is wrong to attach conditions to praise and worship for God, arguing that man was created to exalt the creator in happiness and sorrow.

Saindi singled out Job who remained firm in his faith amidst untold suffering and loss of valuable property and children as the best example of how man must treat God.

“To praise God is simply to acknowledge the good that he is,” he said.

Principal pastor of Mhlafuta Mission of the Last Church of God in Mzimba Mtumbuka Chisambi says the reason for praising God is not because the creator has to hear his creation say it.

According to Chisambi, people should praise and worship God because their eternal destiny depends on their worship of the true and living God.

“We have to praise God because he is awesome, wondrous, inspiring, great, magnificent, uncommon, extraordinary and glorious,” he said.

Quoting Romans 10:13, the reverend assures that God will respond to the cry of John and his siblings as long as they call upon him in truth.

“It’s not that he is deaf. He will respond to their prayers one day no matter how late this can be,” said Chisambi.