Where are you, God?
Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble?
Psalm 10:1
I tried to keep the tears at bay in a Honduran hospital as I sat at her bedside. Relatives had attacked this sweet, innocent girl with a machete as revenge in a family dispute. Though her physical wounds were healing, her emotional wounds were not. She was terrified to go home. I felt the same anger as the psalmist. Why does it feel like the wicked are winning?
Unfortunately, I do not have to go overseas to see this type of oppression and injustice. I just turn on the national and local news. Sometimes I get overwhelmed. So much suffering. Yet the Holy Spirit will intercede when I have no words. God does hear the cry of the powerless. He will encourage them. He will make things right in his time.
Prayer is important, but so are self-reflection and action. Am I contributing to the suffering? Are there any actions I can take? For the prayer today, I’m copying the peace prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Application
- Read all of Psalm 10.
- Take time to pray for those suffering here and around the world.
- Look for somewhere you can be part of God’s restoration: serve in a homeless shelter, an overseas mission, or become a CASA volunteer, etc.
Listen
“O God Will You Restore Us?” by Bifrost Arts
((I could have chosen several from their wonderful album Lamentations: Simple Songs of Lament and Hope Vol. 1.)