By Fola Ojo
The behaviours of some men are too confusing to fathom. Why some people do what they do we may not know. People kill at will. They kidnap and decapitate their victims at will. They defraud at will. They do many unimaginable things at will. Wickedness is perpetrated everywhere wantonly and at will. Life in the hands of many people is a cheapo. Anytime we learn how some good and kind people died, we are startled. When we hear that they were killed by someone close to them, we wonder why God often allows bad things to happen to good people. Man’s insatiable quest for material things is bewildering. The world we live in is mean and cruel. The heart of man is wicked.
The Good Book speaks loudly that our orbits and spheres of influence are infiltrated by wicked and unscrupulous people on the hunt. These mean and menacing men set traps for unsuspecting innocent men and women. Wicked human beings have no conscience. Right and wrong mean nothing to them. They stand for nothing. They stand up for no one. They throw orphans to the wolves. They exploit the poor. Who truly can know the heart of the wicked? Who knows the debris and slut lodged in the chambers of the hearts of evil men and women? Why are people wicked, many often ask this question. Who has the answer? Not me.
Recently, I recalled this story that happened just two years ago in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul worked very hard in America for about four decades. He was a Computer Engineer with a US city government and also ran a booming real estate investment business on the side. Paul saw poverty and hunger in Nigeria and he was moved with compassion to do something about it. The two vices reign freely among his family members in a Nigerian village. His heart yearned to help his people. In preparation for a future retirement life at home, Paul built a big house in Abuja and also in his village. When he turned 65 years old, he retired from his government job. The easy-going and affable fella headed back home, where he was born and where he believed he could make a greater impact on human lives. What is wrong with that mindset? Nothing; except when you run into a possible bruising headwind against people who don’t like you because they believe you are better off than they are and they want what you have. In life and relationships, it is important that you know who is truly for you, who is against you even if they say they are for you, and who is neither here nor there. You need this discernment. People you look up to as helpers may become destroyers because their hearts are filled with hidden hate and jealousy. Many times, it is difficult to know who hates you. Whether you believe me or not, no matter what you do for some people, no matter your sacrifices for them, they will still hate you because of what you carry; how you carry yourself and what God is doing in your life.
In Nigeria and every Christmas season, Paul ran a feeding program in his village. Thousands of people turned up for the empowerment drive, where he also gave out school supplies for kids and a few scholarships to brilliant boys and girls whose parents aren’t up-and-up financially. When a Nigerian community believes you have some influence and affluence, they quickly throw a run for political positions at you and offer to confer you with chieftaincy titles. Very many people fall into the trap as they swallow the bait. Most rich men in Nigeria are either made chiefs or in romance with politics. But Paul had no time for none of that mess. He focused on quietly blessing the people in gratitude to God who has blessed him much.
After a particular Christmas feeding program in his village, Paul mysteriously took ill. He had general body pain and a bloating belly. Paul was taken to the hospital about 20 miles away in a nearby big city for medical attention. The diagnosis was poison! Poison? Where did it come from? With days spent in the hospital, his wife in America contemplated flying him via the air ambulance back when his condition didn’t improve. The village people, whose lives were touched by this man, took up the fight to rescue their benefactor from the cold hands of sudden death. They went spiritual to determine who was behind the wicked act. It was his blood brother he helped put back on his feet and paid his children’s school fees. It was his brother, whom he brought to America on vacation a few times with all expenses paid by him. It was the brother he connected with businessmen in his line of business. If we cannot trust our own blood, who else can we? The heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it? Village people sought the evil brother who had run out of town. The wicked run when no one pursues him. But this time, a whole village of about 3,000 people was in pursuit of a wicked man.
My friend, it’s risky eating and drinking everywhere you visit. You just don’t know who hates your guts and wants you dead except God reveals to you. Paul didn’t survive the strike on his life. He died in pain and anguish before the air ambulance arrangement was finalised. His offence? Kindness and readiness to help his people. Did he have to help? I am sure If Paul knew that the trip back home would end in a tragedy, leaving his wife a widow and his beautiful children fatherless, he would have chosen a safer path. He let his guards down. I will do the same too among my blood relations. You will too. May God expose wicked household enemies. The wicked are like the troubled sea that cannot rest. His waters cast up mire and dirt. Those who plough evil and sow trouble reap evil and trouble. One breath from God and they fall apart, one blast of his anger and there’s nothing left of them. What happened to the wicked brother who fled town? I don’t know. What I know is that there will be no peace for the wicked.