Lament Upon Reflection on Race, Racism, and the Gospel

Abba, you are good, but all around I see evil. Lord, you are just, but all around I see injustice. God, you are three-in-one, perfect unity, yet your people are increasingly divided. Instead of standing against Satan’s schemes, we stand against one another. We make his job easy for him.

How long will you allow this to go on? Where are you? Are you listening? 

More and more turn to answers this world provides because they hear no answers from you. Lord, they do not hear from you because your church doesn’t speak your words. We parrot those that make us feel like we want to feel instead of what Scripture reveals. We’ve traded your truth for fake news. We’ve traded our birthright as your sons for a bowl of luke-warm public policies. We are blind. We are deceived. We worship golden elephants and donkeys and call Moses a Marxist and a bigot. We are a stiff-necked brood of vipers. The majority of us relish in the comforts of our privilege while indifferently refusing to examine who bears the cost of our luxuries. Anger and hatred grow in the hearts of the minority of us as twin oaks whose roots grow all the down to our weary toes. We cannot and do not consider anyone as more important than ourselves. We look not to Christ as our example in selfless service. We look to our “friends” and followers who only bear in common with us our inherent selfishness. We count ourselves better, more worthy, and more enlightened than our fathers before us while doomed to continue perpetuating their oppression. We just know how to make it look better on Instagram. We signal our supposed virtue, not to affect change or express compassion, but to get likes and feed our own self-righteousness. We are scared, Lord. We are scared to look at our own hearts and minds, not for fear of what we will find, but rather for fear of how unlikely we will be to repent because of what it might cost us. We say “all lives matter” so that we can continue doing nothing to prove even that statement is true to us. We stay with those who look like us so we don’t have to recognize you’re so much more creative and multi-faceted than we want you to be.

How could you let it come to this? How can your people look so unlike you? If your church continues to prove to be so untrustworthy, why should anyone trust you? Is this what you want for us? Will you change us? Can you?

Rise up, mighty God, and reclaim your bride from whoring herself out to power-hungry men for treasures that won’t last. Tear down our idols. Take away our comforts. Turn us back to you by removing everything else we depend on. Make us see you so, together, we can join arm-in-arm in surrender to you. Don’t give up on us, but don’t wait any longer, either.

I don’t understand, Lord. I’m angry at and ashamed of your people. I’m angry at and ashamed of myself. I think I may be angry at and ashamed of you. But you are my God, and I am yours. You are right, and I am not. You are able. You are good. You are just.

I believe in you. Help by unbelief.