Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!...
The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Psalms 103:1, 6-8
Many things are broken in this world, and many good people are upset by injustice, cruelty, and suffering. I’ve noticed that in many instances this awareness of injustice and cruelty then leads good people to become angry, cruel, and unjust to other people – lashing out with accusations and name-calling, and a spiral of anger, cruelty, and injustice perpetuates. It makes my heart so sad. I have to admit that BOTH the injustice AND the anger make me angry too. I see many places in the Psalms where the Lord’s wonderful ways are extolled, and His ways look quite different from ours: merciful, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. As Christ’s disciple, I want to be more like God than like the angry mob, but I also know I am to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world. How can I do both? In my despair about this, I cried out to the Lord, and in one week was led to both these passages – through a sermon and in my wonderful Bible study class.
I was privileged to be able to hear the Stated Clerk of the PCUSA preach at our church, using the passage from Mark, above. He used the passage to point out that Scripture teaches us not to lean on our own ways, for they are faulty – both as individuals and as the Church. This passage teaches us that the faithful pray and lead others to Christ, and Christ heals. Through Christ, we can make things happen that we can’t do through our own power, or by our own ways.
One of my favorite passages of Scripture is helpful to me here, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understand; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.” (Proverbs 3: 5-7). So when I find myself becoming angry at either the injustice OR the anger, I pray to God in trust and ask to become more like Him: merciful, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Does it always work? No, but God isn’t finished with me yet.
Prayer: Lord of my life, please make me more like you - merciful, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love - and through this to point more people to you. For you, alone, can solve the problems this world faces. So many are hurting; so many are angry. You died and rose again so that we could be restored to you and reconciled to one another. Yet we throw that away in our anger. Please reach down to this hurting world that needs Your love, and help us to reach up as well. Amen
Lori Snyder-Sloan, reprinted from 2017
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