Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

 

Isaiah 10:1-4
Woe to those who make unjust laws,
    to those who issue oppressive decrees,
2
to deprive the poor of their rights
    and withhold justice from the oppressed of
my people,making widows their prey
    and robbing the fatherless.
3
What will you do on the day of reckoning,
    when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
    Where will you leave your riches?
4
Nothing will remain but to cringe among the
captives or fall among the slain.

 

Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
    his hand is still upraised.(NIV)

 

Reflection:

 

How often do I turn on the news and see people who are
suffering because of unjust government officials, merciless
warlords, terrifying gangs, and corrupt companies?  But in
a time of 200-plus cable stations, I can easily change the
channel and block out the pain of others to search of my
entertainment. After all, what can I really do about any of
that anyway?
     In our text today, Isaiah offers a stinging indictment of
those who abuse the poor, hold back justice,and persecute
the marginalized (v.2).  For them a day of reckoning is
coming.  Their suffering has not gone unnoticed, for a King
is coming and there will be no hiding (v.3).  God did not
forget them, and he stirred Isaiah's heart to remember them
and cry out on their behalf (v.4)

 

Prayer:

 

Dear Lord, forgive us where we forget the suffering of others.
Stir us to cry our for your Justice in this world, for your
kingdom to reign, heal and save.  Amen

 

(Covenant Home Alter author, Quaime Lee)

As I was pondering over
my situation Psalm 121 came
into nmy mind.
 
I looked up into the sky and prayed, and I
immediately realized, deep in my heart and
soul, where my help was coming from. 
My help, as it always has before, will come
from the LORD. 

 

That's right, the same mighty
and powerful God who created all the heavens
and the earth.  The same God who is going to
help me and preserve me in my going out and my
coming in.  HE IS GOING TO HELP ME STARTING
NOW, AND HE IS GOING TO HELP ME
FOREVER MORE.      A M E N !

Verse

 

Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced
under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—
with no one to comfort them! On the side of their
oppressors there was power—with no one to
comfort them. And I thought the dead, who have
already died, more fortunate than the living, who
are still alive; but better than both is the one who
has not yet been, and has not seen the evil deeds
that are done under the sun.
(Ecclesiastes 4:1-3)

 

Voice

 

How often have I lain beneath rain on a strange
roof, thinking of home.
(William Faulkner)

 

Prayer

 

Lord, help us to see the face of God in the faces
of all who suffer. May it move us to act. Amen.

 

(Verse & Voice from Sojourners. sojo.net)