Torn apart. Voices and screams of the oppressed and disenfranchised awaken us to the plight of the majority who desperately need love and justice to reign in like the mighty power that God manifested when he raised Christ from the dead. Lord give us hearts to see those who are suffering and in pain and give wisdom as to how to follow in the footsteps of Christ to reduce the total misery and affliction that beset the world at this time.
READ THE BOOK - FIND THE RHYTHM
2 comments:
There is so much suffering - even in a single soul, as to crush us beneath the weight in despair.
I am glad when God reminds me that I am not to carry the weight of the whole world on my shoulders, but, as Tolkien put it "to do what is in me for the times in which we are set."
Our prayers may range far further than our deeds, yet we need to do both. We may pray for all of the suffering around the world, in specific places, and for specific people, and God answers prayer.
We are to love one another and our neighbors, and do good to them in the various ways in which God has gifted us, trusting that God will bring "the increase."
If we do try to carry the world or fix it (and as a guy, my bent is towards fixing things, situations and people) we so easily go beyond what we are able to do (we can minister healing, but only God can do the healing) that we become crushed in despair, or cynical, or bitter and angry with God. We are so small. Compared to the need, we can do so little. Yet, in doing that little, we are more truly ourselves than if we serve ourselves or become stuck inside the event horizon of introspection. But in knowing how small we are, we can be content that God knows what He is doing, and will use our comparatively little efforts to far greater effect than we can ever imagine - remember Mrs. Schaeffer talking about "ripples"? - without being destroyed in the process. Jesus, the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He conquered sin, death and Hell for all.
Steve,
Thanks for the pertinent comment. Ah yes, the ripples and No little people and no little place too. Seems to me that God calls us to be present and accounted for, while trusting that he has, is, and will carry the weight of the world.
Post a Comment