God is not silent about suffering. He cares about how we treat others. He calls us to do something about the suffering of others. I don’t see indifference in how he wants us to treat others. Yet, I am afraid.
I’m scared to explore what this means for me today. If I look a little closer, think a little longer, I may need to do something about the injustice. I may end up having to do something I am not comfortable doing. Even something that might cost me more than I may want to spend.
Obedience is not always easy. There are times it is effort. I envy those Christians for whom it is effortless. How do they do it? They have a smile while doing the hard things.
Should faith be this difficult?
Should obedience be easy?
Can it be?
When is it easy?
What can make it daunting?
What makes obedience difficult?
Thoughts of, “doing the right thing” and “justice vs. injustice” are loud right now. How can they whisper in the face of the injustice and amplified evil?
When my heart screams, “That is not right” it is not easy to suppress my mouth. I do not always know what to do. Doing something is the surest way to shout back, “That is wrong”, and “This is how it is ought to be”.
How else can I explain the instinctual reflex against evil? I cannot, of myself, summon the irresistible, irrepressible desire for another’s good. For someone else’s wholeness, peace and safety. This, can only be born of God.
That is it! Injustice bothers me because I have an idea of how God wants things to be. That which causes me to rile at injustice is of God. I cannot think of any other source. Yet, I am afraid. Fearful of the consequences wrought on those who say and do something.
cf. Micah 6:8; Mark 12:30-34
God, I am afraid. Help.