Lead me to the Rock
Along with everyone else, I’m reading the reports about the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, and as much as it’s heartbreaking, how INSANE that it’s also the furthest thing from unbelievable in the America of 2020. And yet, even within many majority-white church bodies (maybe most of all in those places), we haven’t even reached a consensus about whether we have a problem with racism.
I don’t think the world needs another white woman’s emotional essay on how bad/real racism is, but I do want to at least put this stake in the ground: the effects of sin can be known and felt generations after (Exodus 20:5). Remember when Jesus asked for forgiveness on our behalf? “Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do.”
Well, then maybe sometimes WE TOO need to repent for the brokenness that has infiltrated our lives that we didn’t knowingly welcome in. We are carrying benefits and blessings afforded us by oppression; this is hardly surprising in a broken world. In fact, it should probably be the assumption if you have lived a life of near-total comfort (like I have). We have to repent, and we have to ACTIVELY work for restoration.
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
“Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the end of the earth I call to you, when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; for you are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.
”
God, we desperately need the Rock that is higher. Convict and restore. Be merciful, but tear away the scales from our eyes by whatever means are necessary. Restore hearts of flesh where our culture has forged hearts of stone. Amen.