Do you choose God, self-sufficiency, or a maribou?

“Do you find that evangelism is easier here in Cote d’Ivoire, than in the USA?” Brisk asked, a co-worker at the girls’ school where I volunteer. I stopped and thought it over in my mind. Here in Cote d’Ivoire, if you aren’t a Christian or Muslim, you still believe there is a God. In the US, many say there isn’t one or they don’t care. Why? Life, here in Cote d’Ivoire, is spiritual by default. The very nature that God created testifies of Him. Guire, a muslim co-worker, told me about a friend that he had from New Zealand who said he didn’t believe in God. To Guire, that was incomprehensible. “Are you telling me that all of creation, so perfectly made, started with some big bang?” he argued.

There are 3 kinds of Maribous, traditional healers, Guire explained. The first uses verses of the Quran, the second fetishes (traditional animistic materials), and the third is what they call a liar or a fake (money stealers). Here, everything has a spiritual causation. If someone dies young or unexpectedly, one often wonders if sorcery was the cause. Some go as far as seeking a maribou to find out who caused the death.

Over a table of decorations, for the upcoming party at the school, they told me story after story of encounters with these healers. Brisk said that someone stole his friend’s shoes, so he went to see a maribou. The boy who took them had constant diarrhea until he returned them. Guire said that his grandmother told him a story of a woman in her village who stole her neighbor’s guinea foul eggs. The woman went to see a maribou; that night, lightning struck the house, picked up the whole family and threw them out in the yard. “Je ne te crois pas! Je veux le voir!” (I don’t believe you! I want to see it!”). That was my reaction. Coming from a culture where the magic that we see, in public, is illusion, stories like these are not very believable. But here in Cote d’Ivoire, sorcery is not something to be played with. It exists, and no one questions that fact. Brisk and Guire laughed at me, shaking their heads. “It must be a different world, where you come from,” Brisk said.

In my church, if you become a Christian, you are asked not to consult maribous anymore. One night, at a prayer meeting, I remember a woman saying in the face of a big decision, “Before, I would have gone to see a maribou, but today I need to go to Jesus.” Going to see a Maribou is quick - instant gratification. There are many who refuse to go to the hospital, because even broken bones can be more quickly healed with a maribou and traditional medicine.

It is so hard to compare such concepts to Western culture. But in reading the Bible, this reminds me of someone - the Israelites. When Moses went up to Mt. Sinai for 40 days, the people came to Aaron, “come make us gods who will go before us,” (Exodus 32:1), and they created a golden calf out of their earrings. This was after God had taken them across the red sea, caused manna and quail to rain from heaven, and made water gush from the rock when they were thirsty (read Psalm 78 for a summary). Before Joshua’s death, he warned the Israelites not to serve the gods of their forefathers (Joshua 24:14). Have you ever read Judges? Over and over again, you read, “again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,” and they served other gods.

Like the Israelites, we often don’t want to wait for Moses to come down from the mountain. We’d rather consult a maribou than call on Jesus. Wait, this is beginning to sound a little more like our western culture. What do we do instead? We pack out lives with so many things and so much technology that we don’t need to rely on God. We become our own self-sufficient gods. This is so different than what David testified to, saying, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” (Ps 23). Stories like the ones my co-workers recounted aren’t much different than quail raining down from heaven or Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life. While listening to Brisk’s and Guire’s stories, I asked myself, “do I really believe in the miracles described in the Bible? And if I do, why don’t I trust God with even my smallest worries and struggles?”

One thing that is for sure - there is a lot more to this world than what meets the eye. Jesus talked about a spiritual realm that surrounds us. In the western world, we don’t believe something unless we see it. But here in Cote d’Ivoire, such a spiritual realm exists, and you don’t question that fact. It boggles my mind. I’m so thankful that I serve a God whose love even angels and demons cannot separate me from (Romans 8:38). And I’m learning every day to rely on Him, like David did, and to believe that He really is capable of the impossible (Matt 19:26). His power is greater than any maribou or any of our own self-sufficient efforts - thank goodness.