What to do when there’s nothing we can do
As I write this, we are watching coverage of the hurricane that has swept through the islands of the Caribbean and is headed to the east coast of the U.S.
The scenes of the devastation to the areas that already had so little in the way of material possessions is mind-numbing. The poorest of the poor standing amidst the rubble that was once … merely shacks perched precariously on hillsides.
In the United States we see people in long gas lines as they fuel up to make their way inland to seek safety. They have boarded up homes and taken whatever they could carry.
And these are the ones who have means to make their escape at least moderately comfortable. Long lines of school buses were moving at a snail’s pace down highways carrying those who do not have their own transportation.
It is a helpless feeling to sit here comfortably in our home and empathize with the people we see pictured in these areas. We can only imagine what they are feeling and experiencing.
We try to process the repercussions for transporting elderly from nursing homes, moms about to give birth, school children and many other factors that have been drastically altered as a result of the current weather forecast.
And suddenly things that may have seemed pretty critical in our own schedule lose a little of their urgency as we stop and pray for the faces we see flashing across our television screen.
We pray for those who are providing help to be able to access the people who need it…for generous hearts to provide funds for ministries that are able and willing to meet needs in these areas…for the winds to abate and move out into the ocean away from land…and for each person to know and experience the peace that passes understanding.
God is calling for us to stand in the gap for those who are in need of rescue.
To cry out to Him with faith that He will hear us and that He will step in and do something.
Let us not forsake prayer for those who are in need of divine intervention.
Let us not grow weary, but let us be people who continue to intercede on their behalf and cry out for mercy.
God bless you as you continue to grow in the discipline of prayer.
Scripture calls us to pray for many things: for all saints; for all men; for kings and all rulers; for all who are in adversity; for the sending forth of laborers; for those who labor in the gospel; for all converts; for believers who have fallen into sin; for one another in our immediate circles. – Andrew Murray