When the Task Seems Too Great - Lesson #4

There were several moments throughout our two weeks in Rwanda that the members of my team would develop a sort of glazed look that usually hinted toward feelings of being utterly overwhelmed and lost in thought. Two situations usually caused this particular feeling and look.
1. Being surprised by some kind of tragedy that we weren't prepared to face.
2. Not being given the opportunity to "serve" in the ways that we had expected and hoped for, especially after recognizing the great need for help in the surrounding community.

I know that I had my share of glossy-eyed moments. After moments and images like this...


After checking out and dreaming of plans to develop a peninsula owned by a new friend, our boat landed at the shore where a family was washing clothes and going on with what I am sure were their usual afternoon chores. I was instantly alarmed by the size of both the smile and the belly of the little girl who was right in front of us, staring and waving. Glenn told us later that her belly was so big that she must have had worms along with severe malnutrition.



I was struck with the sense that the devastation and poverty was too common, too easily accepted, totally unavoidable...how could God provide for these??







We entered the genocide memorial in Kigali by descending into the literal darkness that represented the horror of heartless killing and hatred. After walking past the images and reading several stories, we were told that we would then ascend into the light again, a representation of the bright "hope" found in the children. At this point, I was expecting to see stories of survival and life but was faced, instead, with continued stories of tragedy. We were met with the faces, the personalities and the ages of children who lived during the time of the genocide, followed immediately by the way that they died...for example, "smashed up against a wall", "hacked to death by a machete".

I was struck with a sense that these wounds went too deep, the destruction was too wide, the acts were too evil...how could God bring redemption through this??

There were several moments like these two. Moments including the one mentioned earlier about the child who approached me and told me that they were hungry. Moments when we would face death due to a lack of education and supplies and proper protocol and would have to come to grips with our utter inability to fix the broken system that was stealing away lives. Moments when we would see HIV positive mothers continuing to breastfeed their HIV negative infants, greatly increasing the chances of spreading the virus, simply because of a lack of education and supplies to bottle feed. Moments when we would stand back and wonder what in the world we were doing there. How, by our exposure to this brokenness, were we helping anything? How was our increased despair over the brokenness of the world doing anyone any good? How could God ever intervene and bring restoration and order to all of this mess of brokenness and suffering?

One thing that we did gain was a deeper understanding of the brokenness of our world. And I do see that through the startling increase in our understanding of brokenness, our understanding of the power and hope of the promises of God increased greatly as well. We were reminded of the small role we play in God's great plan of redemption, and his promise to complete his started work became so wonderfully sweet. The circumstances seemed to prove many times that God had really gotten himself in too deep...that surely he had made some promises that he couldn't keep. But the truth rang out that all of God's promises are true and will surely come to pass.

There's a lot to be done. The state of the world is grave...and the task of the church is very, very great. The need can be overwhelming, especially if looked upon without an understanding of the role of the Spirit of God at work within the church to empower and bring life. Philippians 1:6 brings a promise that God is at work to complete what HE has started in and through us. HE himself began the work in us, began a work through us, and HE will use others to complete the work that he began with us. And he will use us to continue and bring completion to the work that he used others to begin. HE is at work! And He will not cease to be at work until that work is complete...on the day of Jesus Christ! He is the creator and sustainer of the universe. He sees it all and is in it all. What peace!