Probably for many of us, we’ve been following what’s been going on in the US and globally around the death of George Floyd. There have been floods of information and opinions around the issue, and it can definitely be overwhelming. So what are we supposed to make of all this?
First, it can be easy to see these events as something happening “over there,” that doesn’t have much to do with us. But I think we need to challenge that mindset and attitude. Most of us have probably read parts of the Old Testament that were written by prophets–books like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, etc. One of the main roles that prophets had in the Old Testament was to actually call out evil that was happening, that nobody was noticing. While everyone thought everything was going just fine, the prophet would come in and call out what was going wrong–injustice, oppression, evil, suffering, etc. The prophets demanded that the people of God notice and see the injustice that was happening, that the people were so blind to.
In Isaiah 1:16-17, Isaiah cries out for God’s people to “Wash! Be clean! Remove your ugly deeds from my sight. Put an end to such evil; learn to do good. Seek justice.” One popular commentary on this verse says, “You, that have power in your hands, use it for the relief of those whom others do oppress, for that is your business.”
It can be so easy to see what’s happening as none of our business. The truth though is that injustice, racism, prejudice, oppression, and all these things have always been the church’s business. It’s our business because it’s God’s business, and God doesn’t give us the option to be indifferent about it. So what’s happening around the world right now does have something to do with us. What we need to do is listen in prayer and ask God how we can respond to what’s happening.
Second, there’s a very simple step that we can all take that I believe God is asking us to do. We need to ask God and search ourselves for ways that we may be fueling injustice through our own prejudice, racism, ignorance, poor attitudes, etc. As God’s people, we’re called to stand up for what’s right, but the very first step in doing that is asking God how we might be wrong. Asking God questions like these is the first step to maturing in ways we may have never imagined.