SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 22:17-24:34
“If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength! Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” (Proverbs 24:10-11)
Each one of these sayings could be focused on, I am choosing one.
The point is to not stand by and do nothing when someone is in need.
Do something, step in, help those who are dying, speak up for the abused, stand with the bullied.
I found this list of stories of people who refused to help…
Though they may be infuriating, I wonder if there are ways that I refuse to endanger myself to help others.
Or as in Story #8, see others problems as “nothing to do with them”.
A quote by Martin Niemoller, a pastor in Nazi Germany, is striking: “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”
Or Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
The issue is whether we care or not… and God knows.
“If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?” (Proverbs 24:12)
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, I do see people in need. My ‘excuse’ is that their needs are so overwhelming. Help me to focus not on what I can’t do, but what I can do, and to do what I can.