Thoughts on Zimmerman Trial

"So justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not reach us.
We look for light, but all is darkness;
    for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.
¹⁰ Like the blind we grope along the wall,
    feeling our way like people without eyes.
At midday we stumble as if it were twilight;
    among the living, we are like the dead.
¹¹ We all growl like bears;
    we moan mournfully like doves.
We look for justice, but find none;
    for deliverance, but it is far away." Isaiah 59:10-11 (NIV)

I haven't voiced my opinion socially about the Zimmerman trial. I look at the system and have to remind myself that Zimmerman was tried according to the laws of the state and the constitution and was given due process. He was given all the rights that we, as Americans, fight for when we go to war against other countries. He was given a chance to state his peace. He was given a chance for freedom.

Then I think of Trayvon. I think of the thought that he wasn't given those rights. Maybe his rights were taken the moment he was shot. Maybe they were taken the moment he was moved into a lower-middle-class inner-city school system. Maybe his rights were taken the moment he was born a male. Maybe his rights were taken the moment he was conceived black.

I try my best not to think of things as racial. God loves Zimmerman, just as much as He loves Trayvon. God can redeem Zimmerman the same way He redeemed me from my BC (Before Christ) era. He can redeem Zimmerman in the same way He wants to redeem us all. I don't doubt the redemptive power of God, nor God's ability to put Trayvon and Zimmerman in the same location, cause an altercation, cause one to die, and cause a nation to be awoken to the injustices of its system. I do not doubt God's power to make "ALL THINGS work out for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28) And I don't doubt that God has a plan that is bigger than Trayvon, bigger than Zimmerman, and bigger than our own emotional out-cries in this situation.

The verse above says "We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows." It is no denying that as our nation turns further and further away from God and His love, we walk further into darkness. None of us has the answers. We make rash decisions about laws. We want laws that will help us when we need it, but want to remove laws when they aren't helping us. Who "us" is is strictly personal for any one human being. But one thing is for sure, the only law I know to be infallible and inerrant is "the Word of God."

So as we go forth in this darkness that we have created for ourselves, maybe instead of making rash judgments, judging the law and situations based on emotion rather than fact and God's truth, we should just stop and find out where God wants us to be. I am all about solutions. I am all about change. But I am not for change that is spewed by emotion and not truly debated for the pros and cons that lie in all the decisions and laws that this country makes. We cannot be one sided. Don't march without a plan. If you are marching (I think it's great), but if someone asks you "How can we fix the system?” you need to have an enlightened answer. Don't march without a plan. Don't march in the darkness. You're still in the dark if all you know is what the media has fed you and you haven't truly looked into the laws and pros and cons for yourself.  You're even more in the dark if you haven't prayed and asked God to enlighten you and our country on the true reason that this entire situation has occurred and where HE wants YOU to stand in the situation. God may call some to march, some to write, some to plan, some to act, and some to sit still until He tells you to do something. If God called you to plan and you are marching, then you are in the dark. If God called you to act and you are just writing about it, you are in the dark. And if God called you to sit still until He tells you to do something, but you're still moving, then you will surely stumble.

"We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away." Deliverance is far away when we don't act how God has called us to act and with their gifts and influences that He has given each of us. Get into the light. If we want to make a change we have to do it the only infallible way possible --- God's way.