Act Justly, Love Mercy

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. --Micah 6:8 (NIV)

Peter Vander Meulen spoke at a Forester Lecture on December 5 about The Micah Challenge. The Micah Challenge is mostly about bringing justice to the oppressed. The main goal of the Micah Challenge is to “halve global poverty by 2015.” As he put it, we should be “freeing captives, opening the eyes of the blind.”

I like this idea of doing all we can to decrease poverty. After all, the average American is spoiled rotten. I get very irritated when my friends complain about how they have to wait until next payday to buy the DVD they wanted or how their parents “only” give them a few thousand dollars for college each semester. Sometimes I want to smack them in the face and shout, “Wake up! You are so blessed! Look around you…you have heat, shelter, 3 meals a day, not to mention so much more extra comforts than you could ever need.”

This summer I made what was possibly a bad decision, but nonetheless a learning experience, when I decided to take an internship 5 hours away from home. Since my parents weren’t there to bail me out of financial problems, to make a long story short, I wound up not being able to buy food a couple times that summer. I can honestly tell you, being hungry without options for nourishment really stinks. Your head is pounding almost all day, and you black out easily, and it’s hard to think straight. You’re really shaky, and all you want is for your day to end so you can go to bed and not feel the hunger anymore. And I wasn’t really in all that dire of straits. I think my housemates knew my financial problems, and they would “accidentally” make too much food for their dinner every once in awhile. But, think of the people who go for days and days without any food, and no kind housemates to bail them out when it gets rough.

I think everyone who has never experienced poverty should try fasting. We always speak about “the hungry children” and it feels so distant. It’s always “the hungry children in Africa, or “the hungry children in China, never “the hungry children in Appalachia,” or even “the hungry children in Huntington.” After this summer, I understand hunger so much better. Now the only thing is remembering the way it feels as the years progress—not falling back into my oftentimes blinded ways, getting so used to my comparatively cushy life. The whole thing about not getting wrapped up in our own silly lives is hard to remember at times. Vander Meulen referenced James 5 from The Message, which he said he liked to use because it was so harsh:

And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you've piled up is judgment. --James 5:1-3 (The Message)

I’m not sure exactly how possible it is to halve world poverty in ten years, but the worst that’s going to happen is “sixthing” or “thirding” world poverty. Even if the Micah Challenge falls short of its goals, it’s still a good idea. After all, that’s what we’re called to do—to be deliverers of justice.