His plan is us!

I love this quote by Steven Curtis Chapman:

God has a plan to deal with the injustice of the world – His plan is us! His plan is his people. His plan is those of us who will recognize and realize that we’ve been called to be a part of what God is doing about injustice in the world. And I’m so grateful I get to be a little part of that.

I read that back when I was in college, about 5 years ago. It spoke to me then, and it still speaks to me now. When people ask me how God can let bad things happen to good people, I wonder why we forget that this is a broken world? Things are not perfect here. They are never going to be. God tells us in the Bible that we will always have the poor with us (John 12:8). But he also tells us that having faith means nothing if we do not work to reflect His love in this broken world (James 2:26). One time I was complaining about how I had been praying for patience, but God didn't seem to be answering my prayers. The person I had been complaining to said, "When you pray for patience, God is not just going to give it to you. He is going to give you opportunities to practice patience." To be honest, that had never occurred to me. But that insight totally reshaped the way I think about prayer and how God answers. In the same way - because God gives us free will and because we live in a fallen world - God is not just going to fix every problem like magic. But he does call us, his people, to do something to make a difference. We get to be part of what God is doing in this world. What a privilege to get to be His hands and feet!

I love this song because it reminds me that just because I live in a safe place and don't have to worry every day about war or starvation or persecution does not give me the right to not care that other people face these obstacles on a daily basis. In fact, the blessings I have been given mean that I have an even greater responsibility to be the voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. God does not bless us for our own sake, but so that we can be a blessing to others. To whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). We need to be His hands and feet working in this broken world to help heal hurts and be Christ's love to those in need.


Solution - Hillsong United

It is not a human right
To stare not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find
The Mercy for the need

Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession
Yeah

It is not too far a cry
Too much to try
To help the least of these
Politics will not decide
If we should rise
And be your hands and feet

Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey Now
As we hold to our confession

Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Yeah, yeah

Higher than a circumstance
Your promise stands
Your love for all to see
Higher than our protest lines and dollar signs
Your love is all we need

Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey Now
As we hold to our confession

Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Oh, oh

Only You can mend the broken heart
And cause the blind to see
Erase complete the sinner's past
And set the captives free
Only You can take the widow's cry
And cause her heart to sing
Be a Father to the fatherless
Our Savior and our King
We will be Your hands, we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
On the darkest place, we will be Your light
We will be Your light

We will be Your hands , we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place, we will be your light
We will be your light
We'll sing

Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.

Woah-oh-oh,
God be their solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Yeah, yeah

We will run we will run
We will run with the solution
We will run we will run
We will run with the solution

We will be Your hands we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be Your light
We will be Your light
We sing