I think it is safe to say that most of citizens of any nation are unhappy with the state of their precious country. How often have they exclaimed, “Someone should do something?” But who are we expecting to “do something”? Is it not true that we often say this when we are upset but unprepared to take action ourselves?

Since many nations claim to be Christian, perhaps we are expecting God to do something. Like the religious people in Isaiah’s day (Isaiah 58:3), many citizens are disappointed with God because they have sought Him, yet He does not appear to have acted on their behalf.

God, however, had a very strong message for those who appeared to be seeking Him on the outside whilst seeking their own interests on the inside. Such people followed religious ritual even though their hearts were far from God, seeing Him as a powerful personal assistant rather than their Lord. God called them sinful and rebellious (Isaiah 58:1). He insisted that they truly obey Him and do things that were close to his heart: feeding the hungry; clothing the naked; loosing the chains of injustice and sheltering the homeless. If God’s people would do this, He said “Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I”.

The lesson I learn from Isaiah 58 is that if God is going to do something, He will do it through the Church. He will do it through people whose hearts beat in sync with His heart – people who are God-serving and not self-serving. In a sense, we will become God’s hands and feet on earth, and He will direct the full weight of heaven towards helping us do something. God may orchestrate other influences and entities to answer our prayers, but the Church will be the catalyst and at the heart of it all.

At this point, you may be wondering who the Church is. The answer is simple: you are the Church. Hence you and I have a choice to make: either we can shift responsibility and wait for someone else to do something or we can take responsibility and do something ourselves. And this is what God wants us to do. Let us not think of the Church as some nebulous entity which we can blame when nothing has been done. You and I are to blame if nothing is being done, for we are the Church.

But what is the Church’s role? This will define the “something” that you and I will choose to do as we direct our hearts to beat in sync with His.

Jesus tells us that we are to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16). Salt preserves food and brings out the flavour in it. So we are to 1) stop society from rotting and 2) bring out the best in it. Light simply illuminates the safe path to take on a dark night. So we are to make clear God’s way and the way to God.

In the context of your nation, one of the ways you can be salt and light is to be a conscience and a prophetic voice. A conscience asks: is that right? A prophetic voice calls people back to God’s way of doing things. This can be done by both word and action.

We have a sterling example of what being a prophetic voice looks like in Pastor Evan Mawarire in my home country. Pastor Evan’s social media broadcasts simply ask the government – as God’s servants to do the nation good (Romans. 13:4) – whether what they are doing is right. The pastor was then arrested. Then later, thousands of representatives from churches across the capital city arrived at the Magistrates’ Courts to ask whether the arrest of Pastor Evan was right. The exiting thing about this gathering was that there were no political symbols, songs or slogans. The meeting was about Christian leading the way in calling for a better country. The only symbols present were the nation’s flags and two crosses. The only songs were worship songs to God. The only slogans were prayers.

God is doing something in your nation, and He is doing it through the Church. I hope you will join in. Wear your nation’s flag to add your voice to the prophetic voice of the Church. Fast and pray between and seek God to see how you can feed the hungry; clothe the naked; loose the chains of injustice and shelter the homeless.