Sunset in the valley
Heavenly Father,
We could really use some good news about now. It has been a rough go of it recently. Our world has experienced tragedy after tragedy in recent days. The list is growing way too quickly; the horrific massacre in Las Vegas, one hurricane after another wreaking devastation in the Caribbean, Houston and Puerto Rico, and the horrific loss of life due to earthquakes in Mexico. Add to this the rise in Islamic terrorism around the globe and the deranged nuclear ambitions of both North Korea and Iran, and the weight of our problems, our sin and our hate is a burden much too heavy to bear. We need You God.
I offer this prayer for our world and for our nation. Forgive us for our many sins. We are Your children, and the sheep of Your pasture. We need Your wisdom and guidance. Lead us. Grant us strength to endure difficulty and patience to endure hardship. Grant us love and forgiveness to overlook the sins committed against us and fortitude and integrity to stand in the face of evil and injustice. May we walk and speak with humility as we care for each other and may You grant us hope and faith as we remember to look up and turn our hearts continually back to You.
We have failed. We are undeserving of Your love, care and forgiveness. Yet, You continue to offer Your love, care and forgiveness to our weary hearts and battered lives. Help our nation and our world to turn. May we turn from protesting to prayer. May we turn from violence to repentance. May we turn from destructive rhetoric to constructive dialogue. May we turn from hatred to love. Let us turn to You.
We repent of our rejection of You. We keep trying to do this on our own. We have rejected Your words and have chosen to embrace our own. We think we are capable of inventing our own just society by our definitions. We have weighed in on issues of the beginning of life and the redefinition of gender and marriage. We have untethered ourselves from Biblical truth and historical precedent and are creating a world of our own designs without any knowledge of the consequences. Some are celebrating and others are mourning.
You sent Jesus into a messy world during troubled times. He preached the Good News in difficult days. Hope arose and the world was changed forever. May we again return to Jesus for hope. He is the hope of the world and the way, the truth and the life. May we once again return to You with all of our heart and soul, mind and strength that we may be changed and transformed. Then maybe our communities, our nation and our world would also be transformed.
We love You God. Forgive us we pray and accept our prayer of repentance.