Tuesday, March 6, 2012

speaking up

I apologize for my unannounced and unintended blogging hiatus for the last couple weeks. Amongst all my other tasks, blogging just fell off my radar, but I hope that will not happen again. (I understand the annoyance of blog-stalkers who regularly look for updates and are disappointed at the inconsistency at which people update. I, too, am one of these blog-stalkers.) So, I just wanted to speak up and let you know that I do not plan for there to regularly be multiple weeks between my blog posts.

Now, on to a different kind of speaking up.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;
ensure justice for those being crushed.
Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,
and see that they get justice.
Proverbs 31:8-9


These verses have been heavy upon my heart recently. I have had much going on, and there have been many feelings of frustration and discouragement and simply not knowing what to do. God has been incredibly gracious and faithful to me, providing me with great wisdom and strength as I seek to honor Him and to love people well. But, my heart is burdened by injustice. It sickens me. It angers me. And, sometimes it feels like it paralyzes me. It also amazes me that sometimes in efforts to bring justice to those believed to be most oppressed, others are actually tromped on and crushed in the name of promoting justice. I have learned that sometimes those who are "poor and helpless" are not always the ones we assume.
That being said, I find myself struggling sometimes to overcome fear and a seeming paralysis to speak up and call injustice what it is. I sometimes find it exhausting to care so much, but I fight on another day, speaking up for those who are suffocating under the oppression of others. And, yet again, I find comfort in Sara Groves' lyrics...

I have joined the long defeat
that falling set in motion
and all my strength and energy
are raindrops in the ocean

So conditioned for the win
to share in victor's stories
but in the place of ambition's din
I have heard of other glories

And I pray for an idea
and a way I cannot see
it's too heavy to carry
and impossible to leave

I can't just fight when I think I'll win
that's the end of all belief
and nothing has provoked it more
than a possible defeat

We walk a while, we sit and rest
we lay it on the altar
I won't pretend to know what's next
but what I have I've offered

And I pray for a vision
and a way I cannot see
it's too heavy to carry
and impossible to leave

And I pray for inspiration
and a way I cannot see
it's too heavy to carry
and impossible to leave
it's too heavy to carry
and I will never leave...

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