The Cry of the Oppressed

I've been reading this book by Rob Bell called Jesus Came to Save Christians, and it talks a lot about how when people are desperate and cry out, God hears them. He hears the cry of the oppressed. The book looks at Israel, when they were in slavery in Egypt and cried out to God, he sent Moses and delivered them. When they reached the promised land, and set up shop they got fat and happy. They were prosperous as God said, but the people and Solomon got, as my dad says, "too big for their britches." They forgot God, they began building a vast military, enslaving people to build temples to God. They had it all wrong, so God sent Babylon in to take them over. When were they delivered from Babylon? When they were oppressed and cried out.

It is easy to make the analogy to crying out in our everyday life. When we have God and have nothing else, we cry out to Him out of pure desperation. He delivers. It is not that we have to be desperate it's just that we have to know we need Him, and a lot of times we don't realize that until we are desperate.

I'm going to take another step and saying that our churches need to cry out. When church leaders aren't disturbed about the pain in the world. When people forget about the oppressed, when they don't think of helping the sick and needy, I argue they lose passion and drive. Being a pastor just becomes a job. I pray church leaders remember God's original call to them. They remember when He drew them to the ministry. They remember the people they wanted to help, the difference they wanted to make in the world. When a church is desperate to breakthrough, make an impact, and change the world you can tell. When it is about more than self help, balancing your check book, losing weight, and making life easier, it works. When the church is about helping the poor, needy, oppressed, hungry, and spiritually forsaken it is at its best. When a church collectively cries out for God to use them, He will deliver.