Coming Back to the Table

I keep revisiting the subject of social justice because I have yet to come to a resolution on the topic. Like, What does this look like biblically? What is the healthy approach? What does it look like for me and in my life? And how does that all conflict or compliment with the global and popular methods?

I don't have answers. In fact, I have more questions. For a while I felt that the subject needed to be put on hold and removed from the table for a while so that other things could be attended to without the distraction of how it all applies to helping others because I needed serious help and attention and there were things in my own life that had been dangerously ignored at the expense of helping others. So it was necessary for it to be out of the way for a while. Then I found that I actually couldn't even bear to look at it I was so fatigued and so worn out from it all that it pained me and even aggrivated me to look at the subject. So I didn't.

Now I feel like it's starting to inch its way back onto the table of discussion and I'm filled with thoughts and feelings I can't navigate through on my own.

Jeremiah 22:16 says, "He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know Me? declares the LORD."

You know I think that before, for me, I used to behave as if my ability to follow through on my actions determined my proximity to God rather than my proximity to God determining my actions. As in, when you know God- this is what you'll look like.

So a few years ago I would have read it like this: If I want to know God and if I want things to be well then I will judge the cause of the poor and needy. Whereas now I read it like this: When I know God and am close to Him then it naturally follows that things will go well and I will naturally be defending the cause of the poor and needy around me.

My perspective has shifted from something I must do to something that will happen naturally when I am alligned with Him. This is not true for me at present. Although I feel closer to God than ever, I can't say I recognize this output happening in my life. And honestly, I think part of that is to do with my own doubts and hesitations on the subject and part of that is because, up until very recently, it all felt very off limits. For me, I don't want to jump back in and do things the way I did because I know where that path leads- burnout and compassion fatigue. So if I'm going to answer a need then I want to do it in a way that isn't just what's best for the receiver but also in a way that's best for me the giver. Sadly, this isn't the popular way; to factor your own needs into the social justice equation. So it's hard to know what's the "right way" to go about it all. But maybe there in lies the key; if you are close to God does the output flow in a healthy way? Are our responses to social injustice done in an unhealthy manner because of our lack intimacy with the Father and His heart (both for ourselves and for those around us)?

I'm chewing. I'm ready to discuss it again, which for me is a big step.