Rest in God
Monologue by Oliva Abrams
While navigating the intricacies of life can be exhausting, God calls us all into his Loving embrace.
The racist incidents and global response over the last couple of weeks has meant I have been turning to God with very different emotions to the rest of lockdown, or even the rest of my life as a whole. Racism is a hugely important and often very emotional topic for me and many others, which I am not even going to try and attempt to cover here. What I do want to do is to highlight a few ways in which I have turned to God in this distress and found answers; how my relationship with God has helped me, and continues to help me process my emotion.
Over the last few weeks I have been emotionally exhausted. Racism is an uncomfortable fact of life that many of us learn to live with, maybe even pushing it to the back of our minds for some length of time before a personal incident or an event like the murder of George Floyd forces us to process the reality of it. Despite how positive the global response to the George Floyd murder has been, having to constantly address and process the reality that I live in a society in which I am judged on the colour of my skin and often found wanting is emotionally draining. I want to encourage everyone to reach out to their black friends and ask how they’re doing. A lot of people are finding it really difficult and could do with your friendship and prayers.
But how does God come into this? In the face of huge exhaustion, especially last week, I have found myself clinging to promises God makes to his people, in passages such as Isaiah 40:
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. - Isaiah 40:28-31
I read this passage in the midst of a particularly difficult day last week, and the knowledge, both mental and emotional, that I am resting in a God that won’t grow tired, but equally, understands that I will grow tired and will care for me in that, has been an anchor that I’ve really clung to this week, and an assurance for which I am hugely grateful.
Secondly, I am really thankful to trust in a God who is just. Last week, I expressed my frustration to a friend not only at racism, but also at the mess and conflict of the response. Her reply really struck me, so I have included it below:
“I find it upsetting that even when, by God's grace, true injustice is recognised, we don't seem to really know what to do and our leaders are the most naive. But I guess we shouldn't be surprised (here she is referencing the fact that as Christians, we believe all of humanity is sinful - she continues). We must find comfort in knowing God is the perfect judge, so all wrong will be justly dealt with when Christ returns. But moreover, find comfort in his grace really, that he made a way for justice and mercy to be perfectly satisfied.”
We have a God who cares greatly about justice, as demonstrated throughout the Bible, but particularly strikingly for me, in the early Psalms. David writes these Psalms as a victim to wicked authorities, and implores God again and again to show justice, and again and again, records the peace he feels at the assurance that God will be just, for example Psalm 9 verse 4 - ‘For you have upheld my right and cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge’.
As Christians, we are also commanded to stand up when we see injustice. Isaiah 1:17 tells us to “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” We have a God who is deeply hurt by injustice, and as his people, we should also hurt, and be advocating for change.
Ultimately, however, we can rest in the fact that our God is a good God, and a perfect judge. We know that in this world, injustice will continue to thrive, and it is only through God, the perfect judge, that justice will ultimately be satisfied, a truth we can hang on to.
Finally, I love that God knows exactly how I’m feeling. This week has been filled with so many conflicting and difficult emotions which I have really struggled to articulate when people have asked, even when recording this video. A massive blessing has been knowing that God knows how I’m feeling better than I know myself. I don’t have to try and explain to him, I can rest in the knowledge that he knows how I’m feeling, and he cares deeply.
Monologue by Oliva Abrams
Jun 24
