This past week has been a rollercoaster for anyone receiving SNAP benefits. One day they were on, the next they were off.  Judges have ruled consistently that the government must pay November SNAP benefits. Meanwhile each judgment has been appealed.

In a scathing response late Sunday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, rejected the Trump administration’s claim of its irreparable harm, should it be forced to pay full benefits,  is  somehow greater than people going without food.  The court named the cascading events of harm for the poor, being forced to choose between food and rent or heat, in their decision.

Some states were able to obtain benefits, during the changing legal status, and filled SNAP cards. By Sunday, the Trump administration was demanding those states reverse  money already loaded on cards.

Throughout the legal wrangling over SNAP benefits,  there has been a callousness in the administration’s decisions. They know, we know, and Judges know, there are resources already available for SNAP benefits to be paid. How else was the government able to pay for two jets for the head of Homeland security, and remodel the Lincoln bathroom in marble, since the government shutdown began?

What we prioritize speaks to who we are as human beings. Depriving children and the elderly of food, speaks of depravity and insidious evil. One wonders at the hearts and minds of those making these decisions, the lack of empathy and compassion, at its  core.

In this strange new world where up is down and down is up, I find encouragement in the scriptures. For God is a God of justice, a God of righteousness, and has a special love for the poor, the disenfranchised, and the destitute. The shame of a government using hungry children as pawns in a battle over appropriations, will stay with us for a long time.

For God is always on the side of children and warns those who would deprive them, in their need.

“But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for them  that a millstone were hanged about their neck, and that they were drowned in the depth of the sea . . .Such things are bound to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! . . .  See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” Matthew 18:6-7, 10