Guyana – The blessing or curse?

May 02, 2020 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

God has blessed us beyond measure with more than most countries in the world. Guyana is not a perfect place and Guyanese are not perfect people but I would like to compare God’s first creation to Guyana where Adam and Eve were placed in a perfect enviorment with dominion over the most fertile land and beautiful garden and given a simple test and told the consequences if they failed.
Our garden is Guyana with a small population of only about 750,000 people but blessed with an abundance of wealth which God has distributed over every square inch of both the land and sea to deliver the best to each of us. We are blessed with brilliance and intelligence and well qualified to extract the wealth from these blessings to deliver a good and satisfying life for us and the future generation. But are we making good use of these God given resources?
Our country brought great wealth to England but when we gained independence in 1966, we were left with an abundance of bauxite, gold, diamond, timber and manganese plus many other lucrative industries and great wealth in our fertile land and ocean. They left us in a blessed country with almost everything that we need on our journey to great wealth and prosperity and God has endowed us with brilliance to extract the wealth. We are placed in a blessed environment, given a simple test and, like Adam and Eve, a choice will determine our destiny. When they left, we never saw the difference between Afro and Indo Guyanese and there was no greed between us for one to have dominion on the other. Why have we started a war for supremacy which is fueled by greed for power? What brought us to this sad place where we seem to be sinking into a bottomless pit of no return? I think that the Golden Arrow Head is the most beautiful flag among all nations and the motto of “One People, One Nation and One Destiny” is so appropriate for a country that is credited as a most hospitable people and I know beyond any doubt that our six races cannot live without one another. But why at this time, we have chosen not to be able to live lovingly with one another? Why have we chosen the sad road of self-destruction? Have we converted God’s blessings to a curse?
I am a student of the bible and have observed that it is saturated with the word “if” and in almost every case, “if’ represents a choice that could make a difference to our future. The simplest way to explain it is God saying: “if we are obedient to Him and follow His instructions, then we will be blessed but if we choose to reject His instructions, then consequences will follow”.
I would like to submit to all of us that if we change our ways, great blessings await us but if we choose to be stubborn, the consequences will be more than what we can bear. The wisest king who reigned said in Proverbs 21: 30: “There is no wisdom and no plan that can succeed against the Lord” and I will like to add that God’s wheel of justice might appear to be grinding slow but make no mistake, “God sees what all of us have conceived in our hearts and consequences await evil while blessing await truth.”
In addition to the COVID-19, which resulted in the deaths of thousands, fear on planet earth, crippling effects to the world’s economy and changes to our life style by putting us under house arrest, we have another crisis in our country which is our election of March 2. I fully understand that an election is a race to determine the winner and I also understand that mistakes were made when the race was aborted before the finish, which is most unusual and unfortunate because it leaves no room for us to slowly replay the tape and determine the winner. However, the athletes are still trotting at the point where the race was aborted, and we are all aware that the race can be continued from that point to conclusion. I am trusting God that all concerned will see good reasons to finish the race with urgency in a credible manner as the spectators, judges and observers are extremely uncomfortable, and each passing day brings additional provocation and destruction to our economy.
During the campaign and after the results, our news media are so saturated with condemnation one against the other that it reminds me of the story in the bible where a woman who was caught in the act of adultery and was brought to Jesus for Him to pronounce judgement. His answer was: “He that is without sin, cast the first stone”. The bible tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9
God knows the wickedness of the human heart and that includes your heart and mine because we are all sinners and have the potential to execute the worst of evils if we choose to plant that seed in our heart. We have failed one another, and I want to appeal to all concerned to open room for healing and forgiveness instead on vengeance and retribution because hate is never a good foundation for a happy and prosperous future. I feel that once the olive branch is stretched out, there will be repenting hands and souls waiting to repent and accept forgiveness. I would like to add that forgiveness is God’s greatest gift to man. It is like love benefiting both the giver and receiver.
I want to remind us that “righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people” which means that doing the right thing and following the truth will bring blessings but confirming to dishonesty in any form or shape will lead to destruction for those who peddle dishonesty and hardship for all Guyanese.
It will do us a lot of good if we embrace the parting words of the late Bishop Randolph George to us. He said: “Live your life in such a way that at the end of it you will have the greatest amount of satisfaction and the least amount of regrets”.
I love my country and I am saddened by the self-destructive path we have taken but I have great faith that God will open a door for change to a great future once we turn from our wicked ways and embrace truth and righteousness. Please be reminded that God has chosen to bless us with a great nation, with great people and an abundance of resources. Let us thank Him for what He has left under our care, begin to plow in righteousness and fertilize in repentance to reap the harvest that comes with forgiveness.

Harold Beharry

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