As I sit before my computer this morning, watching the golden light of the morning sun wash gently over the tall grass outside I am at a loss for words, praying for clarity as my heart is weighed down.
These have been heavy times for our country.
As the global pandemic of COVID-19 has continued to alter life as we know it, racial injustice and violence has run rampant through our land as well. This week, when the video of George Flyod began circulating,
I was crushed.
My instagram feed and news feed have been flooded with anger and outrage regarding this man’s murder, just as it was a few weeks ago when the footage of Ahmad Arbery losing his life was released.
The throng of voices have been many. And loud. Very loud.
As I’ve read the news and heard varying stories and perspectives on both these mens deaths, more than anger, I am filled with a great sadness, and sickness as truth has been misconstrued and the great brokenness of our world, and every man, has become more prevalent than ever.
Injustice and immorality is literally tearing our world, and each other apart, and we all have a part to play, no matter the color of our skin.
I ache for us all.
I ache for George Floyd, and the life he lost, but I also ache for Derek Chauvin and the life he took.
Both men lived in a world of great depravity and violence, and both were in desperate need of the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ.
In Isaiah 24, the condition of the world at the end of time
is described in this way:
“The earth mourns and withers,
the world wastes away and withers,
the exalted people of the earth waste away.
The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,
for they have transgressed teachings,
overstepped decrees, and broken the everlasting covenant.
A curse has consumed the earth and
it’s inhabitants have become guilty…
The joyful tambourines have ceased.
The noise of the jubilant has stopped.
The joyful lyre has ceased.
They no longer sing and drink wine;
beer is bitter to those who drink it.
The city of chaos is shattered;
every house is closed to entry.
In the streets they cry for wine.
All joy grows dark; earth’s rejoicing goes into exile.
Only desolation remains in the city;
its gate has collapsed in ruins.
From the ends of the earth we still hear songs:
The Splendor of the Righteous One.
But I said, “I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me.
The treacherous act treacherously;
the treacherous deal very treacherously.
The earth is completely devastated;
the earth is split open;
the earth is violently shaken.
The earth staggers like a drunkard
and sways like a hut.
Earth’s rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.”
I don’t know about you, but when I read those words, I wanted to cry, because I felt every one of them deeply in my bones.
Our earth is mourning and withering and wasting. The treacherous are acting treacherously, the noise of the jubilant seems so small amid the cries of the angry and grieving. Rebellion weighs us down, all of us, for we have all transgressed the Almighty God’s ways and we have all defiantly broken his everlasting covenant.
I wish it wasn’t that way.
I look outside at the mountains my God has created, the grass so vibrant and the sky so tranquil, bug and bird and flower and fern rising together to meet the sun, and I wish his most prized creation, mankind, could live in harmony, so beautiful and peaceful as well.
And although they may not realize it, I know that is the ache behind all the throngs of voices rising up together against George Floyd’s death as well.
We all want harmony. We all want peace. But there can be no peace outside of Christ. We as humans, are incapable of manufacturing it. And we cannot achieve it on our own.
I know the world is so heavy right now, weighted down by the overwhelming amount of bigotry and brutality that is ravaging our land. But as Isaiah said,
“From the ends of the earth we still hear songs:
The Splendor of the Righteous One.“
God can still be found, and the sweet sound of his truth can still be heard, even in this. Brothers, sisters, the world needs him more than ever before. WE need him more than ever before.
I don’t know about you, but the death and decay of the world around me can so easily creep and seep inside me if I’m not on guard and dependent on Jesus, every second of every day.
I don’t feel like I have the experience or knowledge to share strong opinions about what is happening in our world, socially and politically. But as one post on instagram said, racial injustice isn’t getting worse, it’s getting filmed. That in no way lessens the impact of such heinous and horrible crimes or the severity of God’s judgement on those involved. But it means that the answer 60 or 600 years ago is the same answer that rings true today.
It’s Jesus.
Mankind of white, yellow, brown and black skin will never join hands in perfect peace until Messiah returns and redeems our broken world.
We need our Savior. We need our Lord.
We need the Splendor of the Righteous One.
I’ll admit that I have no idea what it’s like to be judged based on the color of my skin, so I hope in no way that my words seem callous. I am so, so sorry if you have suffered racial injustice. The purpose of my silence is not meant to be insensitive, but respectful, as I don’t understand, and I am sickened and saddened by not only the violence that devastates our land between brothers of the human race, but by the uproar and upheaval of our generation in response to it.
If I have a voice, I don’t want to use it to injure or stir up conflict and hate. I want to use it for my God. For peace. For love. For redemption.
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said,
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it. Therefore, I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
It is clear by the events surrounding us, that our world is wasting away. But being angry about it will only create more problems than it solves. Guilt and shame and hatred will not change the hearts of the unjust. Only God can do that.
Therefore we must look to him. We must be vigilant in prayer. We must love our neighbor. And we must share the hope inside us, that those who are bruised and battered by sin may say like Isaiah, “from the ends of the earth, we still hear songs; the splendor of the righteous one.”
