Our community thrived, geographically and demographically, in the bordering countries, changing our plight from time to time. The impact of colonialism and imperialism is still prevalent today. A small community of the same tribe and tradition was dispersed into countries and different states within the country.
It has its benfits and a affliction for a community that had just come out of animism, nature-worshipping and a unique tradition. In one way, we were fortunate that it has open trade routes, although with limited knowledge, between three or four countries. It was just because the land we inherited was well-placed, which later on resulted in conflicts.
On the flip side, we were unfortunate to be tossed and juggle our living and existence in all the countries which included us. Internally, we were ruled by the infamous divide-and-rule policy just to tame us like animals. The majoritarian rule tried to drive us out for no fault of ours. Then, we were called foreigners even in our land resulting in an uncontrolled ethnic cleansing in Manipur, India.
It was the plight of our community to fight for our existence wherever we were. We missed the opportunity of strengthening our roots and routes of money by our selfish ambitions. Yes, let me reveal now that I’m writing about the burning state of Manipur over the last month.
If you study history, we all were migrants at one time; it’s simply that some arrived early and some a little bit later in a place we claim to be ours. It is interesting to study the movement of people historically due to different reasons. Yet one thing is common – All born a sinner, greedy and robust avengers, were not ready to live together in harmony!
Here it is interesting to note that if one community is so kind and harmonious towards another, we assume there must be a hidden agenda behind it. How corrupted were our minds!
Hear us out:
Now that things were out of control, we turned to the living God to hear our plight. We yearn for him to save us from all these sufferings and miseries. We wanted our perpetrators to be put to shame and our land restored in the way we wanted.
Yet his way is God’s way. No one can bargain with God. We don’t need to help God. God knows what he is doing, although it is hard to accept there was so much suffering in this world.
Prayer fellowships were organized in different places – offline and online. And, just now, even as I write this, I got an invitation. But then, how do we pray? We were all sinners; we did not know what exactly was the right thing to say. However, pouring our hearts out to God in the hope of him hearing us out becomes our only survival tool in this particularly hard time.
Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD. Psalms 27:14
Hear my plight:
Now I want to share with you a satire of David yearning for the deliverance of The Lord God when King Saul sent his men to watch over and kill him in his very own house. The violence or ethnic cleansing that we faced also witnessed killings, butchering, and burning down of churches and houses.
Psalms 59 reads: Deliver me from my enemies, O God; be my fortress against those who are attacking me. Deliver me from evildoers and save me from those who are after my blood.
Arise to help me; look on my plight! You, LORD God Almighty, you who are the God of Israel, rouse yourself to punish all the nations; show no mercy to wicked traitors.
You are my strength; I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.
God is not slack or slow:
When we suffer continually, sometimes our sight and hope get dim. Then we tend to think God is slack and very slow or otherwise not responding to our plight.
One can make a plight, but the power of God is beyond the reach of men. If you read the following verse from the Scripture, you’ll understand and stay comforted.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise: The truth is that God will keep His promise and without delay according to His timing. Any perceived uncertainty from our perspective is due to the long suffering of God, who allows man as much time as possible to repent.2 Peter 3:9
Praise after plight:
If we do not believe in our plight to the almighty God, we’d be like an empty vessel making noise. However, it is not make-believe, but the truth that God is trustworthy. The fight for survival is becoming more spiritual warfare than before.
Deliverance is on the way, and it will be in God’s way when we are refined from the blot of our sins. Then, we, too, shall sing the Psalms of David. Psalms 18:
You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me, ….. foreigners cower before me; they come trembling from their strongholds.
The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man, you rescued me. Therefore, I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name! The violence will one day come to an end, people will return to their work if they can continue. Rebuilding would become a hard task, which if gone wrong would be a set back for another catastrophe.
But then, I will sing praise to the Lord Almighty! He is my rock of refuge, safety and comfort in all the years to come for my offsprings!
