25,000 people die everyday because of poverty … one person … every 3.5 seconds.
What’s your response? What’s your heart cry?
Does it make your eyes gloss over? Does it make your heart break? If you’re like me, then no it doesn’t. It’s something you grew up with, something you always knew about, something we are so familiar with, it’s really just too easy to be sympathetic and not empathetic. Every 3.5 seconds someone dies, not because of a car crash, not because of a cancer, but because, they just didn’t have enough, because they couldn’t get access to food, because there was an injustice, dare I suggest, because someone didn’t act on their behalf? This leads me to ask why? A dangerous question, a question moving me from the comfort of my life to uncomfortable reality.
But global poverty … wow … its huge … justice … it’s just huge, it’s over my head, I’m small and to be honest, I don’t understand it, I haven’t got the political insight or wisdom to suggest new management plans, I haven’t got £1000’s to give away to those in need, I haven’t got the freedom to jump on a plane and romantically go and spend a couple of days planting some grain for the farmers … I don’t know what I can do, other than one thing … pray.
A cop-out? No I don’t think so … it was through prayer Moses parted the Red Sea … it was through prayer Jesus endured the cross … it was through prayer that all the miraculous and awe inspiring events of the bible took place – it’s through prayer, God changes things. A recent 24-7 product so aptly described 24-7 as an army of people on their knee’s – so are we really? Or are we too busy looking inward, too busy with our own distractive personal hurts, our own short comings, too busy seeking personal development that we forget Jesus calls us to look to him, not to ourselves, and when we do that, we find ourselves?
The Stanford-Le-Hope Boiler room has another week of prayer coming up … this time, we focus on various world issues, but one of them being global poverty. A huge topic, but a huge God. A scary topic, but a scary God – how often do we forget God hears the cries of the oppressed, or perhaps, how little do our spiritual eyes see of that? My prayer for this prayer week, is that in this time, as I somehow, focus my attention on prayer for global poverty, God will break my heart, that God will move me from familiarity to reality but that also, as much as I do not understand much about this, that God will use my availability and press upon me prayer topics, press upon me opportunities to assist in various ways. I don’t really know how I can help other than small financial contribution and some prayer … but I do say, God here I am, use me and further, I trust the Holy Spirit can direct me where he wills as long as I stay in touch with him.
