Tuning out from injustice

Technology is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it has great power to give us much more information from all over the world than ever before. On the other hand, this information often feels overwhelming.

This is particularly true about injustice around the world. We now get much more information about the state of the world, about the atrocities that are committed in many places. And we should know that this is happening in the world! And yet, it is overwhelming. Because often we are powerless to do anything about the terrible state of the world. So we begin to tune out. We don’t know what to do with the information.

But God tells us exactly what to do with it; to lament. This is a lost concept for many of us, but biblically it’s often the right response to suffering. To lament is to cry out to God, to call out in our pain. To rally God for action; come and end this suffering! And then to trust that God is able to fix the things we have no power over.