Do Something

“Do the best you can until you know better.

Then, when you know better, do better.”

~ Maya Angelou

Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee recounts the story of an 11-year-old girl who visited Yad V’shen, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, for the first time.  The parents debated if their daughter was old enough to grasp the significance of the displays, vivid pictures, films, and audio reports and how it might affect her.  It was decided that the father would stay with the young girl so he could assess her reactions and take her out, if he deemed it best.  The child was speechless as she went from room to room.  At times, she would reach up and take her father’s hand, but still without saying anything.  As the tour came to an end, there was a guestbook to sign.  The young girl reached in her father’s pocket and retrieved his pen.  She wrote down her name and address.  There was also a space for comments.  As her father peered over her shoulder, he saw his daughter write, “Why didn’t somebody do something?”  Sarah Huckabee then put the pen back in her father’s pocket and they left the museum in silence.  Governor Huckabee concluded, “Let it never happen that someday some father would have to hear his daughter ask the question: “Why didn’t somebody do something?”

Years later, Sarah Huckabee Sanders recounted that, “A visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem as a child served as a reminder of what can happen when good people allow evil to triumph.  Christians should never, ever, ever allow that to be them.  God calls each of us to take a stand against evil and a stand for what is right.”

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke

During these days, as we are learning and growing, may we…

* pray as our first line of defense, rather than our last resort

* read, study, and apply God’s Word

* listen carefully

* respond in love

* research

* act when prompted

* exhibit patience

* have a teachable spirit

* make right when we are wrong

* never give up or stop learning

* do something

Create in me a pure heart, O God,

     And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10

Search me, God, and know my heart;

     test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

     and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

Learn to do right; seek justice.

     Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

     plead the case of the widow.

Isaiah 1:17

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

John 13:34

Do everything in love.

1 Corinthians 16:14

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge, I will repay,” says the Lord. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:17-19, 21