We had a place that we could call home,
And a life no one could touch…

We are the angry and the desperate,
The hungry, and the cold,
We are the ones who kept quiet,
And always did what we were told….

But we’ve been sweating while you slept so calm,
In the safety of your home….

–Prayer of the Refugee by Rise Against

Can you hear the cry? The emotions? The pain in these lyrics?  

And as I listened, my spirit recalled the words spoken long ago:

Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?
       Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
       who are caught in the schemes he devises.
He lies in wait near the villages;
       from ambush he murders the innocent,
       watching in secret for his victims.
 He lies in wait like a lion in cover;
       he lies in wait to catch the helpless;
       he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
       they fall under his strength.

-Psalms 10:1-2,8-10,12

Rise Against end their song with proclamation that they will no longer stand idlly by, but they will stand up and fight:

So open your eyes child…

Keep quiet no longer,
We’ll sing through the day,
Of the lives that we’ve lost,
And the lives we’ve reclaimed.

Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now,
You will let me down, down, down!

In a similar vein, Psalms 10 ends with a proclamation – the difference is that the Psalmist proclaims that God is King:

The LORD is King for ever and ever;
       the nations will perish from his land.
You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
       you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
       in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

Let the Church rise up and proclaim the reign and rule of the Lord Almighty!!

May we no longer sit on the sidelines of the greatest battle of all times!!