Despite recent events taken place in Baltimore having been disheartening, We cannot lose hope. Anytime, a group of people are dealing with authority that is perceived to be unjust or unfair there is the temptation to lose hope, become disparaging and take matters into one’s own hands.
Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they will not become disheartened. Colossians 3:21 (NET)
Fathers represent authority. Normally, in a household once you go to your father after you have already talked to your mom the final decision rested with your father for whatever was up for question. After his word; there was no more word or anything else to be said about the subject. What the father said went and it was the end of the story. If the father was unfair, the children would be provoked to anger and become disheartened.
To become disheartened means to lose heart or to lose hope. Unfortunately, what is going on is a lot of young African American men and women are losing hope in the possibility of justice in this Country. When the authority figures who naturally we expect to be able to trust betray that trust over and over again and get off as if nothing ever happened it causes people to become disheartened to lose that hope and ask themselves what then can be done for justice.
The natural reaction is to express one’s own anger and discontent through lashing out. While I understand the emotions and concern, I do not condone it because it is unproductive in bringing justice and it can actually incur harm on persons involved making matters worse rather than better.
There are a few examples in the Bible of authority that had ill intention toward it’s citizens, but I will only write about one example here. The example is Herod who had authority as King over the jurisdiction of where Jesus’ parents resided. The Bible is clear in communicating that King Herod sought after the child Jesus to kill him (Matthew 2:13-15). However, Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father was warned in a dream to go into Egypt until the Herod died that sought the child’s life.
In the above case, we see that even though the authority of that time was corrupt, God still intervened in the situation leading and guiding Jesus’ parents to care for the child. We learn from this story to trust the providence of God realizing that even though various authorities may be corrupt and provoke some to become disheartened, we are never without hope because there is always higher authority available who judges righteously and fairly.
Second, we see that the child’s life was sought because he was special and unique. He was the Son of God sent with a purpose to save all man-kind. We have to realize our worth as African-American men and women. There is something in African-American men that people who aren’t familiar with become afraid and intimidated by and thus target African-American men unfairly in many cases.
However, African-Americans have many gifts that make us a special and unique people. All you have to do is pay attention to the major trends in media and you will see that African-Americans are emulated in almost everything that we do from hip-hop, to dance, to fashion, to poetry, rap, and various other things. These are the things that kept us happy and full of joy during slavery when we were owned and priced at a value by someone else, but not only our gifts to entertain and uplift one another through the various arts, but the core thing that kept us strong was our relationship with God.
The old negro spirituals gave us hope and kept the thought of a higher authority out there looking after us, who would deliver us when the time came. African-Americans also have direct connections to the blood-line of David and thus the lineage of Jesus Christ through King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
Black was so beautiful in the 1970s that White folks got perms to fit in. One of the most unique parts about us is the fact that we are still here in America despite our many years of struggle. We have been able to endure in this country due to our endurance and our relationship with God which brought us through slavery, Jim Crow, and many other disparities. Knowing our own worth and value outside of what others perceive is crucial to not losing hope.
When a person doesn’t know their worth and they lose hope; they are liable to do anything placing their own selves in harm’s way. What if Joseph and Mary had not of followed the providence of God and said instead they were going to go and tear up King Herod’s kingdom? What do you think would have happened? They would have made themselves targets for know reason and been destroyed, but they followed and trusted in the providence of God and their lives were spared as well as Jesus’ life when Herod had all of the children 2 years and younger who were male killed.
Lastly, we have to understand that just because we may not see immediate retribution, it doesn’t mean that retribution is not coming.
Because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:20
Sometimes when things happen that are so gut-wrenching as with the Freddie Gray situation; there is a natural reaction to want immediate revenge by any means necessary, but this is not the best way to go about things. Rioting, attacking police officers, and unruly behavior only lead to more confusion and pain. The problem that originally occurred is not fixed, and only more grief is realized. Surely, the victims in each case of injustice lives are worth more than a fit of anger. This is not God’s will at all.
What we may think is justice is not nearly as much as the justice that God desires to give. God’s justice will get to the root of the problem and God’s justice also deals with the hearts of men. The whole premise of non-violence is rooted in dealing with the heart of men, but this is another subject.
What if the justice that God has in mind is similar to that of what occurred before with laws changing, people being convicted, regulated, and held accountable which would in turn prevent future episodes and others will be able to live in peace? Let’s think long-term and not short-term.
Lashing out only brings short-term gratification while fighting for justice in an appropriate manner brings long lasting gratification. We have examples throughout our history of what worked before. We need to follow those examples when responding to the gut-wrenching events that take place in society that have occurred with some police officers and Black men and women. Whatever you do don’t lose hope.
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