beggers have no choice at all

Beggars have no choice.

By: Abraham Daljang Maker.

I was brought up in a Christian family. Having got my baptism in an infant age, I got used to the words of God and believe in what the Bible says.  In those days when I was a child, my maternal aunt would call us to pray together before going to bed. As a Christian, I read my Bible in my dialect and my favorites verses are psalm 23 and Matthew Chapter 7 verse 7. This particular chapter talks about asking God whatever you need and it shall be given to you. This means that God can help us when you ask him for anything.

   When I attended church service last week, the main theme was taken from the very book of Matthew chapter seven and the preacher talked about asking and believing that God shall grant the request. The emphasis was put on asking and believing and the word really touched my heart, I had listened to many sermons since my childhood about this message. Indeed I have been making request and God gives me positive answers.

The only thing I did not understand was that, this issue of choosing what one needs is only applicable to God but not to the fellow human being. After the service, I went home pondering on this divine message. When I reached the door step of my room, my friend John called me on phone to go and see him immediately. Wondering what had happened; I just put my Bible down and rushed to his hostel to see what could be the problem. I was ushered in by my good friend and showed me a big carton box containing two sophisticated Nokia phones. They were sent by his uncle from United States of America, he told me earlier on about it and I thought he was just joking.

   With the message of God in my brain, I recalled the actual words of the preacher as he said, “brethren, even now if you ask Him to provide you with a phone, you can get it today.”  Without wasting any second, I quickly ask John to give me one phone and he agreed.  I chose one which looked so beautiful; he snatched it out of my hand and told me to wait a bit. He leaned forward and whispered a word directly into my ear. “My friend, don’t you know that beggars are not choosers?” he asked.

“But, but…. I stammered, you told me to take one; besides, the Bible says that ask and it shall be given to you.”  I quickly stood up and moved towards the door shocked with shame and anger. My legs were like birds’ feathers; very light as if they had no bones. I opened the door and shot out like a bullet and walked as fast as my legs could carry me. 

 I heard him shouted behind me. “Don’t you know that it’s only God who can allow you to choose what you want? Let your God give you then!”

 When I was out of his sight, I began to analyses the verse. “Ask and it shall be given unto thee, seek and you shall find and knock and the door shall be open unto thee.”

I asked myself, can I knock only on God’s door? What if I visit someone, should I knock or not? My literal interpretation to the knocking on the door of God to request for something is quite different from visiting a friend and just knock on his/her door to be allowed in.

The more I asked, the more my mind spun and I could not find the real answer to those questions. I dread his manners that time. I was sad as I dragged my feet long the road, the word kept nagging me, “beggars are not choosers, and Beggars are not choosers……” I finally realized that my friend had no intention to give me phone but just wanted to test my faith. I told him one day about God’s love for mankind. He opposed me and said that he believed in himself. To him, everything is by chance and luck and God has nothing to provide to man. He does not believe in the Biblical theory of creation, but rather he thinks that man emerged through evolution.

I usually disagree with him and told him that God is the provider; he can give you whatever you ask. I knew after words that his peculiar behavior was just to justify his argument. 

NB: whatever is written here is just my own imagination. The Name John is a character used to support my imagination. The events here are just my own thoughts, nothing like this happened to me, and I have no friend called John at campus.