July 5, 2011

I was awake early into the morning just thinking about the situations a lot of the children and even adults go through here in Zambia and I was in tears over it and crying out to the Lord. The poverty, the suffering and injustice I see can sometimes be seemingly too much for me. Injustice is one of the things that grieves and angers me the most. I know that it is ok to be angry, even Jesus was angry but in his anger he did not sin. I spent time crying out to God asking him to give me the right perspective on it all. I began reading in Psalm and came across verses that I could not read without crying. It spoke so specifically to what was on my mind and to the situations of many in this country. .

The first was Psalm 10:8-18: “He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent, watching in secret for his victims. He lies in wait like a lion in cover; he lies in wait to catch the helpless, he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees.’ Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, ‘He won’t call me to account’ But you, O God, do see troubles and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out. The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You hear, O Lord, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed in order that man, who is of the earth may terrify no more.”

The second verse was Psalm 12:5, “Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise, says the Lord. I will protect them from those who malign them.”

God really used these verses to remind me that he has not forgotten them, that he is the helper to the fatherless and to the oppressed, he hears the cries of their heart and will encourage them and rise up to protect them. We live in an evil world full of sin and darkness. My prayer is that of verse 15, “break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.” I pray that God would use me to encourage those suffering and oppressed and that I would be able to point them to Christ. I pray that the seeds of bitterness would not take root and that all can be used redemptively in their own lives and to help others who have or are walking through the same things. May they not lose hope..may they find refuge and protection in the arms of their Heavenly Father.