What God Wants from Us
God wants to see evidence of a person’s faith in its acceptance in the recesses of his heart, and his dealings with others; while people want to give evidence of it simply by verbal proclamations of the faith.
An examination was being conducted in a college. A student entered the examination hall and took his seat. However, he did not write anything at all on the answer sheet. Instead, he just sat in his chair. And then, three hours later, he stepped out of the hall and went to the library, where he began answering the examination paper. He had left the answer sheet blank in the examination hall, but there, in the library, surrounded by books, he filled his notebook with his scribbling.
You will say this is a fictitious story. Indeed, you will remark that no student can be as stupid as writing his examination in the library instead of the examination hall. However, suppose this story is confirmed; you will add that this student was not in his senses.
Only a madman can indeed behave like this. However, something that appears so utterly absurd in an examination of this sort is exactly what everyone is doing about the Hereafter. A college student should write his examination in the hall, not the library. In the same way, there are appropriate places to appear for the examination set by God. People do not appear for examinations in places that God has set for them for this purpose. Instead, they want to write their examinations elsewhere.
God wants to see evidence of a person’s faith in its acceptance in the recesses of his heart, while people want to give evidence of it simply by verbal proclamations of the faith. God gauges our worship based on the humility and sincerity of our prayers, while people think punctilious conformity to the minor details of external acts of worship proves their piety. God wants to see the proof of their faith in their inner being and dealings, while people express it in mere words. God wants us to follow His teachings in our lives while people are busy stirring protests against others to make them follow God’s injunctions. God wants to see us help oppressed individuals, but people write, speak, and issue statements about collective oppression; never really helping oppressed individuals while presenting themselves as ardent supporters of the oppressed.
Everyone knows that the answer sheet a student fills up sitting in a library instead of an examination hall is utterly useless. Alas! If only people knew that, in the same way, actions are wholly valueless when performed in any ‘place’ other than where God wants them to be done!
