Waking up physically ill by the news again. It’s hard to shrug it off. The memes flooding my Facebook wall today along the lines of, “Don’t worry, Be happy”, feel trite and out of place. I cannot turn away. I cannot just turn off the news this time. It’s impossible to be caught up in my own selfish worries or burdens when this nation is bleeding out in hate, fear, division and confusion. Have the scales fallen from my eyes or is the cry of brokenness just louder this morning?
I hold fast to a realization that every single thing that pains me in the world today, is exactly why we need Jesus. I remember how He was there, standing beside and befriending the least of these. When the crowd spat upon the one being unfairly treated, He knelt down beside the one who was hated. He spoke up. He loved them. He stepped in for the hurting when others passed them by and cast them out.
Rescuer, healer, teacher, I know you’re here, in this broken country, kneeling beside the hurting people today, too.
This uncomfortable place I find myself in-this empathy that is breaking my heart-shattering it really, for the pain I see in others all over this country and around the world. This discomfort-this stomach churning unsettledness-in a way I pray it remains as long as there are people on this earth and in this country feeling broken, cast out & afraid. I don’t want to unsee it until it’s gone.
Perhaps God is showing us all the broken places-in this year of clarity, 2020- so we might get on our knees, repenting & praying for this country. A country only He can save. Perhaps He wanted us to see clearly the hopelessness around us so that we would finally know for sure that our ONLY hope is in HIM. In a country that today feels so far gone, it’s hard to imagine feeling carefree ever again. Maybe as a nation we weren’t doing enough, speaking up enough or praying enough-to end the evil that exists here. Discrimination, abortion, murder, abuse, looking past the addicted, the enslaved, the homeless, the poor. Letting powerful people get away with evil. Maybe we’ve gotten so caught up in selfish things that we became too self absorbed to hear the cry of the hurting. Too blind to step in for our neighbor. Too scared to speak out against evil. Too comfortable in our own safe places to venture into the less stable.
When will you save us, God? Hear our cry!
A prayer for our nation…….
Dear Heavenly Father,
We come before you in the name of Jesus, desperate and broken before you. For all who have looked the other way, please forgive us. For all who have been hateful, please forgive us. For all who have minimized the cries of the hurting out of sheer unwillingness to understand because we could not relate, please forgive us. For all who have lived so deep within ourselves that we were blind to the pain that breaks your heart, please forgive us. Renew us, God, don’t restore us, but make us anew- a nation who loves one another the way you love us, each one made in your very image. Allow us to forgive each other the way we are forgiven. Help us to love like Jesus loves. Break each of our hearts for what breaks yours. Bring us together, God. Let empathy, listening ears and strength for one another be what pulls us outside the comfort of our homes and into community together. Please heal our nation of every virus, both threatening our health & the viruses that threaten our hearts. May we see what you see. May we feel what you feel. May we do better than we’ve done thus far. We know you are good even in the hard times, Father. Thank you for loving us as your children and showing us right from wrong. You are holy and mighty and we put our complete trust in you because we know that only you can do impossible things. We praise your name and thank you for your steadfast love & faithfulness. Thank you for being a solid foundation when the world we live in is shaky and unstable.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen
The impossible things are not impossible for God. In the end, we know He will put each broken piece back together, instantly mending the pain His children endure, but in the meantime, I will keep praying that unity & peace on earth happen today. I will keep praying that lives, beginning with conception, will be fought for by all people. That wrongs might be made right, now rather than later. I will keep repenting for our country and asking God to have mercy on us and I invite you to do the same.
This year so far has, if nothing else, caused my eyes to open wide and my heart to be more broken with His. I am also more grateful for that which feels lost now.
For every broken piece of His heart that he lays out before us-let us never live another day without leading with a love like Jesus’ and let us never forget how much we need Him.