turns out God cares

So today in my Imagination in Culture class (yes, I have a class under that name...oh Cornerstone...) we had a very special guest. His name is James. He goes to Cornerstone now, but he grew up in Sudan. At five, his town was attacked and he and his family literally had to flee for their lives. He told us about watching sisters raped, cousins killed, corpses left behind. He told us how just this past Sunday some of his family members had been in church when the pastor and ten other members were thrown into a back room and burned alive. They had no political involvement whatsoever. They were innocent, there to worship their Savior.

It's hard to hear about these things and be anything but mad--mad at the people committing the genocide, mad at the West for not stepping in, mad at your professor for just moving on with class as usual, mad at yourself being so useless, mad at God for allowing so many lives to be washed away. Something just doesn't sit well when you watch a movie like Hotel Rwanda, feel as though you'd like to vomit and punch through a wall and then realize it's still a reality. In fact, it's so much a reality that someone who's lived through it has come to tell you all about it. It makes it a bit more real, a bit more frightening and a bit more overwhelming.

I am certainly all of those things; but I have to say I'd be at a much greater loss if it weren't for something I read the other day. God, as it turns out, had some earth-shattering news for me. The news: He cares. Everyone has heard that, right? A thousand times. But I doubt that so much as ten percent of believers really believe it. It's one thing to recognize that the Lord likes people, even loves them; it's another to come face to face with the reality that he loves us even more than he loves himself, more than he loves his glory. Don't take my word for it, I heard it from the Bible.

In Isaiah chapter 1, God is grieving over the essential loss of Israel. They have prostituted themselves to idol worship and apathy. God tells them that their religious ceremonies have actually become a burden to him. He detests their hollow religiosity, rooted in ritual alone without any meaning or significance at all behind it. Many of you have read Isaiah and know what I'm talking about. I had, too. But the kicker hasn't come yet. I'm reading through Isaiah chapter 1, lamenting over Israel and trying to check myself, thinking I know what God will say next. I think, "Oh, this is when God tells the Israelites that he wants their true hearts, he wants surrender and he wants passionate, sincere worship." Sounds pretty legit, right? Wrong. Those things may be good, but it's not what God requests. In fact, his answer to their apathy caused me to do several double-takes. Ready for it? Here's what he says:

"16Take your evil deeds

out of my sight!

Stop doing wrong;

17learn to do right!

Seek justice,

encourage the oppressed.

Defend the cause of the fatherless,

plead the case of the widow."

Take a minute to think about those implications. God's request to us does not lie in passionate worship; it stands in seeking justice, encouraging the oppressed, and defending the orphaned and widowed. Wow. God cares so much more for people than himself, that he's one plea for us to come back to him is not even for him--it's for the benefit of others! God's call for us isn't simply to elevate him, his call is for us to emulate him. He wants us to be so connected with him that our heart breaks when his heart breaks, our hands reach when his reach. He would rather have our passion for the things he's passionate for, accomplishing his work on earth than our passion in praise--or worse yet, our passion for praise. And the beautiful thing is when we begin to seek justice, encourage the oppressed and defend the orphans and widows, passion will come automatically--it's the very thing God's addressing in this passage. He knows that that's how it works, because that's how he created it to work. The more love we have for all that God loves, the more, without question, we will love God.

This may not be new to anyone, but it shattered my worldview. All this time I have been thinking, "how to I glorify God?" and answering it with, "use your gifts! Pray! Read the Bible!" When in reality I should be answering it, "seek justice! Encourage the oppressed! Defend the orphans and widows!" Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what this looks like; but boy am I excited to find out. I know the Lord will teach me because he's commanded me to do it! Praise God for his infinite wisdom!

There are a thousand things more I could say, but this already looks like a novel-post by Kate (hehe, you love me, Katie) so I'm gonna scoot. I love you all so much and I hope this challenges you (Kate, Heather, Hannah) as you embark on your mission fields. Peace.

-e l i s a