Thoughts and Prayers IX

For we, O Lord, have become fewer than any other nation . . . 

- From the apocryphal "Song of the Three Young Men"

One of the reasons that people that think and pray about others are mocked, is because of the sense that their numbers are thinning. 

I don't know whether immature humans gang up on others because it's fun, or fulfilling to do so; or if they gang up on others because they are afraid of being placed in with the victims, if they choose the wrong side.

The fact is, that, once a gang starts forming, it tends to grow and lose its sense of self-control and purpose, until a counter-force comes along, that can vanquish it. And then fence-sitters can choose the new overwhelming gang, either because it's fun, or better for one's own safety.

Whether or not the people that think and pray are actually decreasing in number, there is a sense of inevitability in their decline. It seems like they are losing influence, becoming a minority. And this just empowers those that have any reason at all to resent them. 

Joining up with an emerging gang is no better than being the neighborhood bully. Yet smart people do it all the time, in 2018.

Take the popular teacher that can't wait to publicly proclaim her judgment upon those that are losing their status in society: #thoughtsandprayersdontwork. Yet, 25% . . . 30% . . . . 45% of her students believe in "thoughts and prayers." Is this kind? Loving? Is it even ethical? How dare teachers use their authority to marginalize any students in their charge?

But it's the same anywhere. Right now, it's popular, or at least, safe, to attack people that "think and pray." 

The three young men in the furnace: Shadrach, Mesech and Abednego" were "Thoughts and Prayers" guys. They were part of a very small minority, in an occupying nation. They were hauled off to the nation's capital, away from their home, to serve the conquering race. And they refused to give up their thoughts about God, and their prayers for the safety of God's people.

How did they get in such a subservient and pathetic state? Did "Thoughts and Prayers" work for them? Where was their God, when their homes were being sacked, families separated, and their national identity violently ripped from them? I'm sure the Assyrians, and then the Persians had a lot of fun scorning the thoughts and prayers of the Hebrews.

But still they thought. And still they prayed. And in the end . . . the very end . . . it saved them.

Are people mocking your thoughts and prayers? Good. You're in good company.