Ian challenged me this week with the question, “If you could
tell one story over and over to describe life here in Moz, what story would you
tell?” I am one of those true introverts, also gifted in mercy and the
prophetic, that usually needs time to process my answer as I pray, dialogue in
my head with the Lord, myself…or there are days when you can catch me when the
exact state of my heart, soul, spirit comes out in a quick, piercing word. These
are the days when the injustice is just too much for one human to describe.
How do I move people to love, to acknowledge, to comprehend,
to have mercy, to walk in justice, to stop for the one? The reality is there is
nothing that I can say or do to move the world, a country, or you. There are
days I choose not to move…I grow weary, I grow content, I choose
self-preservation over faith. I choose to be busy, to look down and avoid eye
contact…avoid heart contact…avoid a life changing and life giving interaction. How
do I move a country that looks at an aborted baby and proclaims that it was
never a life? Where rape is seen through the eyes of racism? Where war seems
like the answer? That proclaims…”my land”, “my country”, “my border”, “my body”.
I can tell you story after story of death, abuse, neglect,
starvation…I can also tell you story after story of life, protection,
abundance, hope…will you move? Will I continue to move? Maybe.
“Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do
not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot
evil against each other.’’ Zechariah 7:9-10
If you read further you will see they refused to pay
attention, stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears…they made
their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen…they were scattered, they
made the pleasant land desolate. God spoke but they chose not to listen, God
sent messengers but they chose self-preservation, God moved and they chose to
dig their heels in deeper.
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord
require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God.” Micah 6:8
Today, I am again reminded there is truly nothing I can say
or do to move myself let alone you…BUT I, you, we can choose to move with Him,
in Him…for He is not far from any one of us. The words resound again in me
today… “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28
Will you move? Will I continue to move? Today I choose to
move. Tomorrow I may not. Today I choose to be still and hear His voice, to
stop for the one, to look the least of these in the eyes, to sow life, to speak
life and to exchange self-preservation for faith and freedom. Now that is what
freedom of choice was truly given for…to be life, to give life and not to take
life! I vulnerably ask you to walk along-side me, to co-labor with me and my
family on this journey we know as life. Sometimes the road is broken, dry,
caving in and there seems no way forward…BUT GOD! You may not even know this
God I speak of but I know He carries you, He holds you, He is for you just as
He is for the unborn with no voice, the young man so hungry he will fight in a
war against his own people for a piece of bread and the one dying alone in the
darkness of the night. This God I move with rains down His blessing on those
that believe and yes even those that do not believe. He calls us not only to
Himself but calls us to love mercy, act justly…we were made for Glory. He is
calling us…calling us into a deeper place…He is calling out my name, your name.
He has actually given you a new name, me a new name. A name only He knows, a
name He will one day whisper to us. You have been chosen to walk humbly with
this God, your God.
Will you move?
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