Voice

I have used this excuse a million times; "I did the best I could. I don't control everything and its in the Lord's hands anyway. All I can do is pray".

The truth is, however, that I often have not done the best I could. There was more that I could have done, but out of fear, selfishness, laziness, pride, ignorance, or busyness...I stopped short of doing all that I could and copped out to "letting the Lord work".

Here's a thought. If I am ever in a situation where I really do think there is nothing more that I can "do" and I need to step back and pray, how much time do I spend in prayer? I feel like I should spend as much time praying as I would have "doing" something.

If there is a teen girl really struggling and I feel like I can't "do" anything more to help her...if I decide that spending time with her, doing a bible study with her, or even writing her an encouraging note would not work...or maybe I have done those things and can't so anything more...if I truly feel that none of those things will help her, then I need to set aside the time I would have taken to "do" those things, and I need to pray during that time. And, I need to do that more than once. In the same way one quick dinner probably isn't enough to help that teen through her problems, one quick prayer may not be enough to fully defeat the enemy that is attacking her.

Now let me add a quick note here...I am not saying that its always on me to do everything. I understand that I have limits. However, in this case I am talking about situations in which I know God has in fact called me to "do" something...hopefully that makes sense.

I agree that praying is in fact "doing" something, and that there are times in which praying is all we really can "do". But, in those cases, if we aren't REALLY taking the time to REALLY pray, then we need to stop fooling ourselves. In those situations, we aren't doing anything.

And we can't look back and say, "I did the best I could".

There is nothing worse that realizing you could have done more but chose not to...

I don't want to beat myself up and try to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders, but I also don't want to ignore the power of my voice. Martin Luther King Jr. once said:
"In the end, it is not the voice of our enemies that we will remember, but the silence of our friends". I know that quote all too well; both as the silent friend and as the one who has friends that stay silent.

In the Old Testament I can think of 2 instances where the Lord was looking for someone, ANYONE, to do something to save His people.

The first is in Ezekiel 22:30-31:
"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord"
-The Lord was looking for someone to do something, and no one did...and the result; the Lord's anger was released.

The second is a pretty well known passage, Isaiah 6:8:
"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here I am Lord, Send me!'"
-This time someone did stand up and do something. Where would we be if the prophet Isaiah had stayed silent?

I think we live in a time where we lean so heavily on the sovereignty of the Lord that we forget that we actually have a role in His plan, and integral role.

I believe that the ridiculously high suicide rate, and the high rate of depression in this country, and probably the world, are the result of an increasingly selfish society...and that includes me.

How many suicides could have been prevented by just one person simply asking, "Hey, how are you?" and actually listening to the answer? How many teenage pregnancies could have been prevented by that girl spending some time with an older woman of God, telling her the truth about how God sees her?

How many lives could have been completely transformed by people spending REAL time in REAL prayer for them?

Probably not every suicide or teenage pregnancy could have been prevented, and not every life transformed...but isn't one enough?

Here are 2 other really great quotes from Martin Luther King Jr:
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter"

"The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was, 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But...the good Samaritan reversed the question, 'If I do not stop and help this man, what will happen to him?'"

I truly believe our society is at a critical point, and things are going downhill fast.

Trish-Don't be silent. Speak Up. Do Something. And if you ever get to the point where you really think you have done everything you you can, then get on your knees...and don't get up until He tells you to.