I watched the documentary, "Reporter" on television two days ago. The journalist traveled into the Congo documenting the effects the many years of civil war has had on their country. Passing through the small villages that had been pillaged, he faced starving people, bitter people, and confused people. With diamond mines and abundant resources at its fingertips, the country has the potential to be one of the richest in the world. But instead, it's one of the most poverty stricken. The reporter wrote that in the end, it was difficult to maintain hope the poverty would cease. Interestingly though, he didn't leave feeling guilty. He left with a desire for the people of the Congo to one day share in the blessing that is having food, strong shelter and peace.
Feeling overwhelmed and saddened by the heartbreaking images, I was reminded of the Israelites in Exodus, Chapter 1. The Israelites were oppressed under taskmasters who ruthlessly beat and controlled them. Verses 13 & 14, "They worked the Israelites ruthlessly and made their lives bitter with difficult labor in brick and mortar, and in all kinds of fieldwork. They ruthlessly imposed all this work on them." The fear that their newborn sons were going to be killed was so great that it caused one Levite woman to prepare a papyrus basket and place her son in the Nile, watching as he was rescued by Pharaoh's daughter. That baby boy was soon named Moses and was raised in Egypt, the land in which his own people were enslaved.
How interesting...
Moses grew up as an Egyptian and when he later fled to Midian, he was recognized as an Egyptian, not a Hebrew. He stayed in Midian and was given the comforts of a place to live, a wife and a son. He acquired all of this while his own people suffered harshly. Do we chastise Moses? Couldn't he have used his influence as the grandson of the Pharaoh to make some changes and stop the oppression? After all, he did observe it with his own eyes. Or maybe Pharaoh was just too big and powerful to fight against. It's not fair of us to judge Moses. That's God's business, not ours.
But just as Moses had observed the suffering with his own eyes, someone else had been observing too. The Israelites cried out because of their suffering, and "God saw the Israelites, and He took notice." vs 25 (emphasis mine)
He... took... notice. I am reminded with these three words that perhaps it's not always up to me to rescue everyone who is oppressed and poverty stricken. Perhaps it's not even America as a whole. Is it possible that it's up to God? That He is the one who sees and takes notice and decides when it's time for His people to be rescued? And is it possible that He'll choose to use those recognized as Haitians, Ugandans, Africans, Chinese, etc. to go back into their countries and bring their own out of the oppression? Who would know the Chinese better than those born and raised in China? Who would know the biases and prejudices between tribes and villages better than those who were raised in them?
Is it a far stretch to imagine that among all of those hurting and suffering in Haiti, the Congo, or any poverty stricken area there isn't one child of His groaning and crying out to God on behalf of his or her people? Can I be comforted knowing that God sees the suffering, and will choose when the time is right to liberate His people from their oppression? Praise be the answer is undoubtedly, Yes.
God is not fooled. He knows of the sufferings and pains of all who are oppressed by dictators, sickness, hard times, forced labor, beatings, hunger, poverty, and sexual abuse. He knows and He takes notice. It will never fall solely on us.
I don't know about you, but that encourages me.
