Turn the channel, look away
Pretend that you don’t see
The faces of the hungry
The desperate in need.
Lord, change my hardened heart

Thus has the Lord of hosts said, ‘Dispense true justice and practice kindness and compassion, to each other; and do not oppress or exploit the widow or the fatherless, the stranger or the poor; and do not devise or even imagine evil in your hearts against one another.’

Zechariah 7:9-10 AMP

Turn the channel, look away
Pretend that you don’t see
The faces of the hungry
The desperate in need.
Lord, change my hardened heart

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 NIV

Turn the channel, look away
Pretend that you don’t see
The faces of the hungry
The desperate in need.
Lord, change my hardened heart

What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this; to take care of the orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world.

James 1:27 GNT

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The Lord has been revealing to me the callousness of my heart in how quickly I turn the channel and/or otherwise look away from those in need. It’s easy for me to stand on the soapbox of my own personal and political opinions, and sadly I do – often. But what would Jesus say and do?

Lord, change my hardened heart.

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Prayer:

God of the hungry, God of the sick and homeless, the voice of the forgotten echoes across the land, dismayed and abandoned in a world of abundance.

Our children, our brothers and our sisters are left to beg in the streets, to find shelter in abandoned structures, to suffer illness without physician or medication. 

Source of hope and mercy, Rock of strength and fortitude, You call upon us to stand in the name of healing and honor, to witness against human life ignored, defend the defenseless, to feed, to clothe, and to bless.

Strengthen our hands to do your good works and to show kindness and charity to those in need. May they see your face in ours. 

(adapted from a prayer found online entitled “Against Poverty”, author unknown)