One of the benefits of being a genuine Christian is having a personal relationship with Jesus where we not only know God’s mind through the scripture but also hear his still or even audible voice in some cases. This still voice can be in the form of an impression or thoughts. Other times God can use an entire experience or circumstances to reveal his mind to us. Hence, God can also speak to us through our personal experience with him. As we grow in our relationship with God, the thoughts of our hearts become prayers. Every moment of our life becomes a state of prayerfulness. God tends to convey his will to us through every situation and experience.
Let me share an experience I had when I was a teenager. I will never forget this experience because God changed my mindset through that experience. At that time, I was just about two years old as a born-again Christian. I was a teenager then, and being a Nigerian, I had no idea what racism was. One day I was surfing the internet, then I stumbled on a website talking about racism and the history of racism in America. I became super curious about it, then I started reading about how Africans were enslaved and subjected to inhumane treatment like animals. As a young person then, it baffled me so much that I was consumed by it.
Before this experience, I had just experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the power of God upon my life in such a way that I will lack words to describe my experience. I was in a stage of learning how to hear God speaking to me daily; the Holy Spirit was teaching me how to hear God's voice. My life was very unusual those days because while other teenagers were busy living the common life of a teenager, I was busy experiencing the love and power of Christ. During those days I could spend a whole day thinking about God in almost everything and fascinated by the power and majesty of Christ. I could also spend a whole day praying in the room without going out, and people were complaining about how introverted I was. But God used those days to shape and mold my heart in a way I will never forget.
Anyways, back to my experience... So, after reading those things about racism and the slave trade, I became disturbed and started questioning God both audibly and in thoughts. I was asking God repeatedly the following question: God why, why... Why did you create men with different skin colors? I also asked, " you should have made them all black or white to avoid all these discriminations?".
I was in my mother's room asking God all these questions during my quiet time with God. Then, I knelt close to my mother's bed feeling so sad and exhausted. I took my father's big bible that he cherished a lot when he was alive. I opened the bible, which happened to be the book of Isaiah, and unconsciously turned one or two pages of that book. Then I suddenly felt the presence of God in my body. This is something I can't describe in words. However, my neck got stiff and God caused my eyes to be instantly fixed on Isaiah 45: 9 - 11 and it says,
"Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'The potter has no hands?
Woe to the one who says to a father, 'What have you begotten?' or to a mother, 'What have you brought to birth?'
"This is what the LORD says-- the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?
When I got to verse 11 where it says, "...Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?" I broke into tears in awe. I felt like God was right there with me in that room. I felt a mixture of fear and awe at the same time. Then I laid prostrate on the bed and couldn't move for a while. My body was motionless or froze as I cried and asked for mercy and forgiveness for asking him such a foolish question and telling him what he should've done. After asking for forgiveness, God released me.
I will never forget that day because, although I didn't hear God audibly, God answered my question instantly by leading me to that bible verse in a way I never expect.
Since that day, I have learned to see God's beauty in diversity. I later realized how foolish my question and suggestion to God was. I realized that if God had made all humans with the same shade of color, it would have been boring and monotonous. God revealed to us his love for varieties through different skin colors, and hence his children should also appreciate the various shades of human skin color as God's display of beautiful varieties.
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