“if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
I am devastated. I am bereft of the words that can describe the agony of what is happening. We have been humbled. We have been reminded. We are not invincible.
- Could our armies defeat the tribal chieftains that rained terror upon us? It seemed so.
- Could we once again travel into space? We have done so. We have sent rovers to Mars. They have lasted for months. And we have sent impactors to comets. And we are learning much. And we have sent surveyors to Titan. And the data we have seen has astonished us.
- Could we forecast the hurricanes that aimed for our coastlines? Absolutely. We saw the storms and we warned the people.
- But could we control the weather or convince those who would not leave? We did not. And we must always remember what we could not do. It must chasten us.
These scenes must always remind us of how frail and powerless we truly are. These scenes must remind us that even when disaster strikes, we are called to humble ourselves and then aid those in need.
We should always seek ways to avert these tragedies in the future. And the future will arrive with increased abilities and capabilities. Future storms will not result in the same number of deaths and the same breadth of devastation. But until then, we must focus on the challenge before us today. There are simple things we must do.
We must pray. Does God need our prayers to learn of the need? Of course not. He knows of the need. But it has been said that prayer is the act of allowing God to change (and use) the penitent petitioner. So we must pray. We must ask God to forgive us for resting in comfort while our neighbors are suffering. We must ask God to inspire us to action. And we must ask God to use us.
We must open our purses. God has said that where our treasure is, our heart will be there also. So let us send our treasures to those in need.
We must open our homes. Franklin Graham has sent out a call for the churches of America to open their homes to destitute families. While this burden will be accepted by local churches in the South, the churches throughout America must accept this challenge as well.
We must open our hearts. We must pray for the lives of our neighbors. We must set aside our petty selfish desires and ambitions. We must open our eyes and see the pain and allow our hearts to become softened once again. My God, forgive me for my seflishness. God, forgive me for my lack of gratitude for what you have given me. I have so much. May I commit all of it to your service.
God bless those who need your mercy. God, revive this land. We need to soften our hearts, open our eyes and start to work. God use me however you can.
-CyclingRoo-