Psalm 119: 165 "Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble".
Just read an article in a new magazine one of the student associations have produced with financial aid from the faculty and schools. They're probably studying law here and have a strong focus on bringing awareness to and addressing social injustice and other politically related matters. They did write ups on the Indian Prime Minister's negotiation with China and Obama's plans with the Middle East, to name a couple of the topics covered. But one caught my attention: 'The Silent Strategy'. How rape is now not just a common bi-product of war but a deliberate strategy to destabilise communities by targeting the life givers and nurturers and instilling great fear and shame. It's also a way to achieve ethnic cleansing. In recent years there have been plans by governments (possibly) to treat this issue far more seriously and execute appropriate punishment to the offenders, yet little has actually materialised. Meanwhile, armies across the world are getting away scot-free with this heinous crime, and women and their families are paying the grave price.
Something is changing though. As society around us spirals downward into deeper and more tragic godlessness, God is also raising up many individuals, churches and organisations around the globe to combat the consequences of the world's increasingly gross sins. Why He didn't just step in right from the start and do something to 'fix it' in some wonderful God-like way so as to not violate free will of mankind, I will probably never know. What I cling to though is that God is still good and still all-powerful. Would I say this as easily if I were one of those women? Or one of the girls sold into prostitution by her own father, only to be chained to a bed daily while vile white men ravage her little body once full of innocence? Would I still know that God is good and sovereign? Would I believe He wants to give me a future that will not harm but prosper me? Isn't it crazy to think that maybe God has not stepped right in and pulled us all to attention and slapped us on the wrists and opened our eyes to our deception because He has chosen us to be the ones to demonstrate His love and fulfill His plans and purposes on this earth in our life time?
Oh Lord, I would rather not have a purpose in life. I would rather none of us did if that meant such horrible things were not taking place on earth needing us to do anything about it. Or that our sole purpose was to be in Your presence and worship You because nothing else was necessary. Heaven is just that, though, isn't it? You speak of a time where pain will be no more. You will bring justice and vindication, cleansing and healing and complete restoration. You will judge those wicked men for their disgusting, stench-filled thoughts, words and deeds. Yet Your heart is for them not to perish Lord. You yearn that they too will come to experience the truth and give themselves to life and not death. Lord give me the ability to love them. My pastor has a heart for the paedophiles and the rapists. To me it's because he's a man. "What does he understand?" I say with seething resentment. But no, it's because he has chosen to let God change his perspective. I need that. A complete change of perspective. Against what I see, what I hear, what I know, what I have gone through and feel even today.
Father, help me! I can't see situations and people Your way and I desire that You change this of me that I may have Your heartbeat for all people. May we all keep Your law in our hearts and apply them to our lives that we may experience great peace that transcends all understanding, that lifts us above these circumstances, that we are able to act out of reason and love even towards those who seek to destroy us.
"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you" Isaiah 26:3
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