“Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” –Proverbs 31:8-9 (ESV)
And again.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” Proverbs 31:8-9 (NLT)
Last month, while sitting poolside in El Salvador on our day off, the Lord brought me to these two verses. And they grabbed a hold of my heart and wouldn’t let go. As I asked the Lord what that looks like for my life here and how I can live that out not only on a daily basis, but on a much grander scale once I return, I kept coming back to this little thing called Social Justice.
Wikipedia defines Social Justice as “the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being.”
So, how does that tie in with Christianity?? All throughout Scripture, both new and old testaments, God calls us to fight and defend the needs of the poor and fatherless and the widows. For instance:
Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.- Isaiah 1:17
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. – James 1:27
“He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD. -Jeremiah 22:16
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Isaiah 58:6
This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. Jeremiah 22:3
　
Right before our squad left Guatemala, we were all invited to an orphanage for dinner. That night, something shifted in my heart. I’m not sure where the Lord will call me after the Race (He hasn’t disclosed that yet) and I’m willing to go wherever He may lead, but I know that I no longer want what the American dream has to offer.
I want more.
I want to hang out in orphanages with the most adorable, loving, joyful kids I’ve ever met in my entire life
I want to bring food to a trash dump that children and families pick through to find their next meal.
I want to build water filters for communities that don’t have access to clean water
I want to pray with the homeless on the street
I want to bring hope to prisoners
I want to weep with the mother outside of the hospital who just lost her daughter
I want to be there.
Wherever there is brokenness; wherever there is poverty; wherever there is injustice, I want to be there in the midst, as the hands and feet of Jesus.
So, I say to the Lord, train my hands to war. My fingers for battle. Prepare my heart to be broken. Again. And again. And again. For the sake of the Kingdom.
