PRAYER LEADS TO JUSTICE AND MERCY

“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.”  (Deuteronomy 24:14–15 NIV)

Prayer and action… can never be seen as contradictory or mutually exclusive.  Prayer without action grows in powerless pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation.  If prayer leads us into a deeper unity with the compassionate Christ, it will always give rise to concrete acts of service.  And if concrete acts of service do indeed lead us to a deeper solidarity with the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying, and the oppressed, they will always give rise to prayer.  In prayer we meet Christ, and in Him all human suffering. In service we meet people, and in them the suffering Christ. 

-- Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996) in “Compassion” [1982] 

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OPPORTUNITIES TO DEMONSTRATE GOD’S LOVE

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.  The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”  (Leviticus 19:33-34 NIV)

I have been exploring my genealogy for a number of years, thanks to the initial work of my maternal grandfather over 50 years ago. I have also had my DNA explored as part of that to see where I have come from – mostly Germany and Great Britain. My ancestors immigrated to Wisconsin in the early to mid 1800’s. I have been married to a Canadian for 50 years. My sister married a man whose ancestors came from Mexico. (Happy Cinco de Mayo to that part of my family.) A niece is exploring her Jewish roots and coming to a realization that some of her ancestors survived the Holocaust and some didn’t. And here in Door County, Wisconsin, we are awaiting an influx of J-1 Visa students -- from a variety of countries in Eastern Europe and South America -- to bolster our service industry for the summer.

All that being said, I share this reminder from Leviticus (above) along with the quote (below) from “The Life Application Study Bible”  that goes along with the scripture:

“How do you feel when you encounter foreigners, especially those who don’t speak your language? Are you impatient? Do you think or act as if they should go back to where they came from? Are you tempted to take advantage of them? God says to treat foreigners as you would treat fellow countrymen, to love them as you love yourself. In reality, we are all foreigners in this world because it is only our temporary home. View strangers, newcomers and foreigners as opportunities to demonstrate God’s love.” 

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson, SOUND BITES Ministry

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MADE FOR ANOTHER WORLD

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were sojourners and aliens on the earth.”  (Hebrews 11:13)

God does not always provide and care for us in ways we might expect in this life. The Bible does not promise this. Peter, James, John, and Paul gave their very lives for the gospel. They viewed the gospel as a treasure not to be lost at any cost. They suffered gladly because they had something in the gospel that had far more worth.

This life is fleeting. This life is fragile. This life is but a vapor’s breath. The next life, the age to come, is where all God’s provision and care for us will ultimately make sense and come together as a whole.

We may not receive healing in this life, but we will receive perfect healing in eternity. We may not see answers to our greatest prayers in this life, but we will receive fully in eternity. Some days God’s provision and care may seem distant, but it will be ever-present in eternity. We long for our world to stop raging and be at peace, but ultimate peace will only come in eternity.

Our hearts ache under the pressures of this life, but it is only because we were made for another world. We are sojourners and aliens on this earth.

-- Matt Brown in an article entitled “Four Truths About God’s Provision"

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