What does God expect me to do about oppression? - Oppression - TouchPoints

Amos 5:23-24“Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I [the Lord] will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.”

God wants us to recognize that justice is essential for godly living. Wonderful worship and pious prayer are exposed as hypocrisy if they are not accompanied by actions that oppose oppression and help the oppressed.

Ezekiel 45:9“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Stop your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Quit robbing and cheating my people out of their land. Stop expelling them from their homes, says the Sovereign Lord.”

God expects us to refuse to participate in any form of oppression. We should be willing, in whatever way we can, to call those in power to account, speaking truth to power.

Psalm 72:1, 4Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son. . . . Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.

God wants us to pray that our leaders will protect the weak and punish any who oppress them. And we should pray for the leaders of other countries to be fair and just and to refuse to oppress any of their people.

Deuteronomy 24:19-22“When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all you do. When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don’t go over the boughs twice. Leave the remaining olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, don’t glean the vines after they are picked. Leave the remaining grapes for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I am giving you this command.”

2 Corinthians 8:14-15Right now you have plenty and can help those who are in need. Later, they will have plenty and can share with you when you need it. In this way, things will be equal. As the Scriptures say, “Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough.”

Throughout the Old Testament, God commands his people to treat the poor with compassion and justice. The powerless and poverty stricken are often looked upon as incompetent and lazy when, in reality, many are victims of oppression and hard circumstances. God’s people were instructed to leave some of their harvest in the fields so that the poor could have enough to eat. While we may not harvest fields every year, we have God-given responsibilities to share from our abundance to minister to the needs of the poor, outcast, and oppressed.