Do Something!

1 Samuel 12:24 says, “But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.”

As we head into a this Thanksgiving season, I can’t help but consider what great things God has done for me.  I love November because suddenly my Facebook newsfeed, which normally seems to be full of complaining and gossip, is suddenly filled with people recounting the ways God has blessed them. Thinking about the recent disaster along the east coast, I can’t help but be even more thankful for the “little” things that so many have been without or have had taken away from them… safety, a home, electricity, heat, personal belongings, and even family members.

Often I find myself praying the pretty dangerous prayer of “God, break my heart for what breaks yours.”  Well, my heart has been breaking since that day a few weeks ago when so many lost so much.  The verse above says “serve God faithfully with all your heart” and that is what I plan to do each and every day.  As part of that I have been clearly hearing the call to GO… to do something about it and help those in need on the East Coast.

Matthew West has a new song out right now called “Do Something.”  (Cool side note, the song was written about the orphanage that I served at in Uganda in the summer of 2010!)  Often in times of disaster, tragedy and pain we can easily finding ourselves ask why?  Why God? Why did you let this happen?  Why don’t you do something about this awful thing happening in our world, whatever “this” is in the moment.   Matthew West suggests that He did… God did do something…

I woke up this morning
Saw a world full of trouble now
Thought, how’d we ever get so far down
How’s it ever gonna turn around

So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”

He said, “I did,
I created you.”

When I first heard these words it hit me like a slap in the face.  It humbled me.  It challenged me and now it excites me!  God CREATED me… he created ALL of us to be his hands and feet … to serve… and in doing so to point boldly to the Christ who did something about the hurt and the pain he saw us cause. He went to the cross… He died… and He rose again to restore hope.

So I’m determined to use the gifts God’s created me with to do something, to restore hope in the midst of tragedy.  I’m leading a team based out of First Trinity  to serve in Keansburg, NJ next Saturday (November 24).  I see God in this all over the place as this has all come together within the last 24 hours.  Sign up to join the team now or find other other ways that you can get involved and DO SOMETHING!

I’ll leave you with the lyrics to the chorus of the song I mentioned above that describe where my heart is a little more right now:

If not us, then who
If not me and you
Right now, it’s time for us to do something
If not now, then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something