Article February 25, 1985 Issue

On drought, politics, and the power of God

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

In one territory of Africa alone, from seven to ten million people are in desperate need of famine relief. Drought, stretching on for many years, is a primary cause. But as in other crisis areas, relief programs are inhibited by regional and international politics. Humanitarian groups are forced to make political tradeoffs as they try to feed the greatest number of people.

Philanthropy needs something in addition to human support. It needs our prayers. Prayer empowers human efforts with divine capabilities. It enlarges our spiritual vision and guides us to practical solutions. Prayer cuts through the complexity of political and economic systems with the simplicity of Christ's teaching. God is comprehensive but not complicated—a loving, benevolent, universal Father who cares for all of us impartially. Jesus frequently presented the divine in terms of the human. He said: "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? ... If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" Matt. 7:9, 11.

Is God insufficient or unwilling to meet our need? Is mercy a divine whim? Must we struggle in the vanguard against insurmountable odds, while God stays in the rear ranks? Too often mankind sees itself the victim of some sort of divine obliviousness, whereas man is truly the beloved child of God, protected and cared for by his heavenly Father.

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