Scripture: Psalm 10:12
Rise up, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand; do not forget the oppressed.
Thought for the Day: It’s now been two months since the group known as Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 school girls in Nigerian. That’s more than 60 days, more than 1,400 hours. I cannot imagine being a parent of one of these girls. Every minute of every day has to be excruciating, and there is more than 86,000 of those excruciating minutes. As of today, there is very little information about the girls whereabouts, yet the world seems to have become focused on other things: Iraq, World Cup Soccer, 2016 Presidential election, etc. I can’t! I have these little moments where I glimpse myself in the shoes of one of those parents. I only glimpse it because that’s all my heart can imagine, yet even that glimpse shows me a pain beyond anything I’ve ever known. What’s even more horrible is that those 200 girls from Nigeria are only a small portion of the children caught in human trafficking. We begin to hear those large numbers as nothing more than statistics, and in the process, we forget about the individuals whose childhoods and innocence are being stolen. The author of the Psalm cries out to the Lord, “…do not forget the oppressed.” Why do I hear a voice, like that of God, responding back, “I will never forget or overlook those who suffer, and I hope you won’t allow their circumstance to be forgotten.”
Prayer: In this prayer, give me strength and conviction, Lord. Provide me the spiritual tenacity to remember those who are oppressed because of greed and power. Amen.
2 thoughts on “Ecclesiological Etchings: 06-18-14”
Very good thought. WE hope that all is well with you, Bruce and Zach. jpp
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