Who Is On My Side?

And he lifted up his face to the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” 2 Kings 9:32

If you’re like me, you’ve been watching events unfold in the news lately with some alarm and confusion. What is going on? How did we get here? As ICE agents move through the Twin Cities and have even made headlines in my hometown for the way they’ve handled a few bizarre cases, I’m left wondering what to think of it all. More so, I’m left wondering how to respond. What do I do?

So, I’ve been asking others about their thoughts. I encountered one individual last week who I initially thought would be squarely on the side of the president and federal agents. Then, I learned she worked for a Christian organization in the Twin Cities that helps immigrants and I assumed she’d be vehemently anti-ICE. She surprised me though. When I asked her about her opinion on ICE and federal involvement, she had an even-handed reply, but she was far more interested in simply telling me about the work that God had given her to do, working with refugees. She didn’t spend time arguing against ICE or by trying to dismiss the fraud committed by some in the immigrant community. She simply saw neighbors in need, and she did something about it.

Today’s passage asks the question, “Who is on my side?” In the story, the newly appointed King Jehu was tasked by God to get rid of all remnants of idol worship in Israel. This meant confronting Jezebel, the wicked queen who promoted false gods. In confronting her, Jehu called to those servants around Jezebel, asking who was on his (God’s) side. Maybe those servants wanted to be on God’s side or maybe they just wanted to save their own skin, but they turned on Jezebel, betraying her to Jehu.

As I recently blogged, I’ve been asking myself a lot lately whose side I’m on. I said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not sure I’m solidly on one side because I cannot endorse everything that side stands for and I’m not solidly against the other side. In each situation I’m faced with, I feel God asking, Who is on my side? I’m not out protesting ICE, but when given an opportunity to help a Somali family in need, I find myself saying yes because I think that’s what God wants me to do. Who is on my side? In each situation, I must ask myself what I think God wants, because that’s the side I want to be on.