Isaiah 58 : Righteous Anger

“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry, and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to cloth him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer, you will cry for help and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”

-Isaiah 58: 5-12

(Written on July 1st)

The verse that I have at the top of my blog is Isaiah 1:17. In chapter 1, the Lord explains to His bride, Israel, His desire for her to come back to Him and what He requests with her repentance. He encourages her to “Take your evil desires out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do what is right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” (Isaiah 1:16-17) As Nicole frequently asks, “Can I ask you a question?” What does this verse mean to you? I love when the Lord tells His people to look after orphans. It is a command that I hold close to my heart and truly want to devote my life to doing. I want to literally defend the cause of the fatherless--not just their cause, but them.

Today I had one of those moments that defined my time here in Uganda.

The majority of the babies have had diarrhea the past couple days and today it was really bad. There is a baby named Augustus who is 11 months old but looks like he is about 5 months. He is still very malnourished and cannot sit up on his own yet. He was pretty sick today and was having an even harder time eating dinner (which consisted of beans and mashed up pumpkin). So I had him in the bumbo seat and was spoon feeding him his dinner in the crib room. At one point he was just throwing up everything and was not able to hold anything down. While rubbing his back I looked up to the other room for just a split second and this is what I saw and heard. (A little background: meal times are crazy. It is so rowdy, loud, and honestly our of control.) I looked through the long corridor into the feeding room and saw one of the mama’s forcefully slap a baby named Faith across the head/face causing her to fall over onto her side on the long, communal high chair. Something within me just snapped and I bolted into the room, scooped up Faith who was screaming at the top of her lungs and covered in her own diarrhea, and started yelling at the mama “Did you just hit her?! You NEVER touch a child like that!!! How dare you!” Child abuse makes my blood boil, and at this point I was completely livid and shaking with anger. Because I was holding Faith, I was covered in her diarrhea as well, so I took her into the changing room to begin cleaning her. She stopped crying and allowed me change her, put her in fresh pajamas, and take her outside so that I could calm down. I held her close, hummed some of my favorite hymns, and kissed her cheeks. I prayed over her and asked the Lord to delete that memory from Faith’s mind and allow her to be adopted soon by a loving Christian family. After she fell asleep in my arms and I put her down in her crib, I went to find the mama again. I talked with her and the nurse and explained how upset I was/am and that as adults working with babies and children, we can never lose our cool but have to remain in control of our emotions. I also told the mama (among other things) that I would be speaking with her supervisor (Barbara, the head of Sanyu) in the morning, and that she should talk with Barbara as well.

I have been angry many times in my life: just ask my mom about when she would put me on time out in my room as a little girl. But this anger was a different type of anger. What I experienced was righteous anger. I experienced the type of anger that the Lord has for those that abuse His children. My reaction was more severe than what I described, but I do not regret reacting the way I did. God’s heart is for the poor and the needy, the oppressed and forgotten. That is the same heart that I desire to have and as long as I am around, I will never let another child be treated the way that Faith was treated today. The Lord used me to stand up for this helpless, sick baby and I praise God that I was there at that exact moment. I encourage you to defend the cause of the fatherless and allow the Lord to make you righteously angry for the oppression that is in this world. But don’t just stay angry, do something about it. God gives us righteous anger for certain people. For some, He gives righteous anger for the homeless (note, for not against). For others, it is battered women, strippers, single parents, those effected by human trafficking, people with various addictions, abused elderly, orphans, the disabled. The list goes on and on. Who are the people that the Lord has placed in your life that are oppressed? HELP THEM and do it to glorify God, not yourself. Think about it: God placed these various people in your life for the very reason that you could be Christ to them. BE CHRIST TO THEM. Love them. Give to them. Be angry for them. Remove the yoke of their oppression. Defend them. Give them the hope of Jesus! “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry, and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to cloth him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”

T.I.A. (This Is Africa).........

(Written on July 5th)

Today is our last day in Uganda. We are super sad to be leaving the kids and the volunteers and we can’t believe that 3 weeks has flown by. We are loving taking the boda-boda’s around Kampala and arguing with the drivers about prices. As soon as we start speaking lugandan, they drop their price. Also, I finally got an African cell phone....so now I feel legit. Nicole burnt her leg pretty bad on a boda-boda muffler and it is in the shape of a perfect oval. I found a cockroach in my mosquito net last night and today I did laundry the Ugandan way. I was laughed at a lot, but that’s ok.

I am going to TANZANIA tomorrow!! I am so excited and would appreciate prayer about the flights and such. Pray that the transition of leaving Sanyu goes smoothly and that Nicole has a smooth transition back to California. That’s it....Next time I blog, I will be in TZ. Blessings!!!