Who Am I?
Wherever I am, bad things happen.
No matter what I have, I am looked down upon.
No matter what I do, I can’t seem to be free.
I have the highest rate of diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, and heart disease.
I have the highest rate of death from prostate, breast, and lung cancer.
I am the most incarcerated in America and five times more likely to be incarcerated than anyone else.
I am scattered throughout the earth.
In history, my carcass was left as food for the birds.
I experience mental health issues at a rate 20% higher than others.
I have been oppressed for at least 400 hundred years, and no matter what anyone does, Oppression’s lasting effects is like my shadow.
In history, my wife was taken to be lain with, I built countries where I had no rights and houses that I was never privileged to live in.
I planted, that which I could not gather for myself, and raised animals which I could not eat, but all was given to my enemies.
My sons and daughters were given to another nation, I cried, screamed, and mourned for them, but I had no strength to protect them.
My heart despises the evil which is and was upon me. It is unbearable, lest I try to forget. Yet every murder, act of oppression, and pain reminds me daily.
I was brought to a strange nation, which I, nor my fathers before me knew. There I serve other gods, wood, and stone, which I often cannot recognize.
People look at me and wonder how I still exist in this condition. They call me degrading names and give me terrible stereotypes, which I and the whole world know.
My sons and daughters go into captivity.
Foreigners come to the land that I’ve built and prosper above me; even while I am still in decline.
They lend to me and are the head and me, the tail.
Who Am I?
These are the curses that God placed over His people, Israel. All these things happened and continue to happen because His people do not submit to HIS Voice, to keep his commandments and statutes.
They are also upon this people FOREVER, that they would again, realize who they are and turn back to THEIR GOD, YHWH.
Who Am I?
Because I do not listen to HIM, I serve my enemies, which YHWH sent against me, in want of all THINGS.
They placed a yoke of iron on my neck and will do so until I am destroyed, lest I turn back.
They were a strong nation from far away.
They attacked like an EAGLE swooping down.
They were a nation whose language I did not understand.
A fierce nation, that did not show mercy on the old or the young.
They ate the fruit which I bore.
Who Am I?
I hurt my own people. My eyes are evil toward my own brother and sister. And even toward my wife do I show disdain and to my children, which I often leave behind.
Likewise, my eye is evil toward my husband and my children. I consume my own children, because I am distressed, afflicted by my enemy.
Yes, I was scattered among all people, from nation to nation into all the world; Where I serve other Gods, which I or my ancestors have not known.
My life hangs in the balances, I know not if I will live today or tomorrow, for I have no assurance. If I comply, I might die, if I resist I might surely die.
In my affliction and my confusion, I wish it were this when it is that. Later, I wish it were that when it is this because the fear of what I see transpiring before my eyes overcomes me.
Who Am I?
I was brought into a place like Egypt again but with ships this time. In this place, I was sold to my enemies like cattle, and no one saved me.
When I was redeemed from Egypt at first, My God promised never to send me back there again.
But in my persistent disobedience, he gave me a choice, to be obedient and blessed or disobedient and cursed. But Moses warned me that I would, for the most part, be disobedient.
Never the less, I am assured that my return to obedience will bring about my redemption.
So I remember who I am in the lands of my captivity and turn back to HIM. I began to learn all that he taught to my forefathers and live in His will.
And finally, I am redeemed by my God for the last time.
I Am Israel, the firstborn Son of God! (Exodus 4:22)
In case you have no clue what I’m talking about, 99.9% of this stuff comes right out of Deuteronomy 28. Also read, 2 Chronicles 6, Jeremiah 30, 31, 33, 46, Ezekiel 16, Zephaniah 2, Revelations, and the rest of the Bible!
By Rev. D. Buck