God is always a refuge for the grieving and oppressed people in this world. He cares about our times of trouble, and He is in us, with us, and totally surrounding us with His love (Psalm 9:9; Romans 8:35-39). He even collects our tears in His bottle and will avenge our suffering in His way and time (Psalm 56:8-9; Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12: 17-19; Exodus 3:9).
In His Word, God calls us to use mercy and compassion in our righteous judgments of others (Proverbs 14:31). He also calls us never to dream up evil to impose on others or to oppress the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, or the poor (Zechariah 7:9-10; Proverbs 22:22-23).
Instead, He charges us to do good for them, and to share our blessings with them when they are in need (Proverbs 3:27-28; Isaiah 1:17). It is important, however, not to “fix the fix that God fixes to fix” people, because we thwart His plan and prevent them from learning to trust God to work out all things for their good (Romans 8:28).
The Lord hears our voice when we cry out to Him, even in times of need. He sees our affliction, efforts, oppression, and grief and supernaturally relieves our suffering (Deuteronomy 26:7). He calls on His Body to give from our excess that He provides for us to the poor whenever His Spirit directs us to do so.
We also share His compassion with the brokenhearted, because if we do not relieve their suffering when He directs us to do so, we reap many afflictions as well (Proverbs 28:27). He gives us His ministry of reconciliation for those He leads us to witness to each day (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).
When people oppress the poor to increase their own personal wealth, they may get rich, but they will eventually come to an absence of provision when they need it. Wise people will listen to the voice of the Spirit of God within us and apply their heart to live in His precepts (Proverbs 22:16-17).
Prayer:
Father God, thank You that You lead Your people away from poverty, oppression, fear, terror of evil, and all negative aspects of life in this world (Isaiah 54:14; Psalm 72:4). You call us to loosen the bands of the wicked, to undo their heavy burdens, to help the oppressed to find freedom, and to help carry the heavy burdens of the helpless and hopeless. This gives us a positive attitude that affects our emotions and health in body, soul, and spirit.
Your righteousness in us strengthens us, and Your glory is our true reward (Isaiah 58:6-11). You are our refuge in the storms, and we trust in You alone, for we know from experience that You will never forsake anyone who seeks You. You may not work out our issues the way we want You to, but Your plans are always better than we can ever imagine (Psalm 9:7-10).
Thoughts for the Day:
Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, to recover sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are broken and bruised, as He preached about His everlasting rule in His coming Kingdom (Luke 4:18-19). As authentic Born Again Believers, we are part of His ministry now and forever.
