Friday, December 27, 2013
"..in wrath, remember mercy"
When Habakkuk the prophet implored God's intervention over the injustice he saw in the world he said this:
O Lord, how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou show me iniquity and and cause me to behold grievance for spoiling and violence before me; and there are that rise up strife and contention... the law is slacked and judgement doth never go forth; for the wicked doth compass about the righteous and therefore wrong judgement proceedeth.
I find myself crying out the same things. Where is your justice O God? Why aren't you doing something about the wickedness that has nearly devoured these children? I wait for answers.
We are not Foster Parents this time around... We are "Alternative Caregivers as a Safety Plan". Dylan and Cheyenne have been with us since mid-October. Dylan had been hospitalized with a fractured spine and pelvis, multiple facial bruises and tested positive for Meth in his three year old system. Needless to say there has been an investigation; the outcome of which remains to be seen. We have been dismayed to learn that the parents are entering into another "treatment plan" with DSS to attempt to get these children back. We are hoping and praying for Court intervention and the placement of a Guardian ad Litem. It will be harder for the parents to get them back this time - though not impossible... and that is what distresses me.
At 51, caring for two children ages 3 and 5 is not the walk in the park that it would have been when I was in my twenties... or so I think. I am older (obviously) and hopefully wiser, so it seems that it should be easier, not harder. But alas, I am used to a certain level of quiet in my house, and order in my day, and freedom in my life - so this new life we have is certainly harder than I thought it would be... it is a sobering reminder that my world has revolved around me for quite a while.
So the lesson that I am learning from Habakkuk as the nation of Judah also learned, is that I am part of the problem. As Edmund Burke remarked so many years ago: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Therefore it is to my shame if I do not learn how to become part of the solution. And so here we are; turning our comfy lives upside down to do something good against the evil that has triumphed in these little lives. It is not easy, and we are not doing it perfectly. No applause is due us for sure... it is simply what must be done to hold the evil at bay.
What God told Habakkuk was that He would send the Chaldeans, a vicious nation, to take captive His holy people in Judah. What? Really? And then the people are called to "Live by faith." In other words, often God will allow things to get worse, sometimes much worse, before he allows them to get better. Our job is to trust His ultimate goodness even in the face of so much bad. Easier said than done, right? Thank you to our "Emmanuel" that He is with us in this process; or we couldn't make it... This I know.
And so I say with Habakkuk:
O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid; O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy."
Yes, ..."in wrath, remember mercy." Amen.
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