United States (MNN) — With stories of unrest and loss mounting in the United States, Lucas Koach, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy for Food for the Hungry, says the impact around the world is a reminder of the need for believers to focus on faith, hope, and a deeper love for the Lord and others.
“What happens in the United States becomes international news quickly, while what happens in countries like South Sudan may barely make local news,” Koach shares. “We have to ask ourselves the hard question of ‘why’ – and as believers we need to advocate for life, in our communities and in the most remote regions of the world.”
Koach says asking hard questions is essential to working together to find solutions. “The Lord would often be asked tough questions too, and He often answered those questions with stories or other questions. So sometimes it’s about being able to ask the question rather than necessarily furnish the answer, to recognize with every question we ask, there’s a deeper question that lies beneath it. That’s what we need to allow ourselves as a citizenry and as believers too, to get to those deeper questions. And how are we creating those opportunities in our communities, in our churches, to get to those deeper questions.”
The world is watching, reminds Koach. And how believers in the United States respond speaks volumes. “Believers don’t have the luxury of pessimism. Either what we’re doing matters or it doesn’t. We have to remain vigilant without despairing.
“As believers, this should bring us a sense of humanity and humility. No nation has this figured out. And that should give us a renewed sense of humility as we reach out to others, and also to recognize by those we get to walk with in the developing world that the US or any developed nation by no means is a Utopian society. All those things should point us to the Lord, to our Savior, that we are trying to see His will done on earth as it is in Heaven and keep working towards those ends.”
Please pray for the families of those who have been killed in the United States, that grief would be accompanied by hope. Pray for those who serve and protect communities in the United States, that there would be unity, compassion, and wisdom. And pray Micah 6:8 for the United States and other countries around the world — for God’s justice, mercy, and humility to be our guide.
