This post is dedicated to "my church" on the peninsula:
Hearing the Cry of the Poor
The fifth prayer buster is uncaring attitudes. Proverbs 21:13 says, “If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard” (NRSV).
A beautiful passage in the Old Testament is about this prayer buster. The Israelites were wondering why God was not answering their prayers. They had even fasted and humbled themselves—and he still did not listen. Here is what he told them through his prophet:
On the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers…. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high…. Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?… Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” (Isaiah 58:3-9)
God is committed to developing a people who will reflect his character in this world, and his character always expresses concern and compassion for the afflicted.
I once saw a cartoon picturing hundreds and hundreds of people lined up as far back as the eye can see. Each person was thinking the same thing: What can I do? I’m just one person.
As just one person, you may not be able to change the world. You can, however, look for a small way to care. Perhaps your church works with a food pantry or prison ministry. Maybe your skills could make a small difference in today’s evils of unemployment, illiteracy, child abuse, alcoholism or suicide. If your ear is open to the afflicted, God will keep his ear open to you.
[From Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels (p. 106-107).]
1 comment:
thanks, yo. where have all the prophets gone? i mean the cool ones that come and tell us like it really is? i wish a prophet would come here. i don't even care if he or she yells at me. i hope he or she does. and i hope he or she also tells everyone else the way it is. i want he or she to kick our holy asses. frankly speaking, i'm sick of this place and its serious problems.
p.s. i am so glad i proofread this before publishing. some glaringly embarassing errors in the spelling of kick. it had a similar meaning to bopo.
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