I never tire of hearing another person’s story. Behind almost every story is some happiness, usually, but nearly always plenty of pain. A child is disabled, a brother was killed in a wreck, the divorce went through last week, a relative is dying of cancer. Ask anyone, "Tell me about the most painful thing you’re going through right now," and you’ll very likely hear a sad, heart-wrenching account.
Consider the photo here. It’s a satellite picture of a city of nearly 300,000. It’s not Wichita, Kansas. It’s not Louisville, Kentucky. No, it is a city filled with enormous pain, even as I pen these words. (Not that Wichita and Louisville don’t have their share of pain. They do to!) The city pictured here is the Sunni Muslim city of Falluja in Iraq. From space, it could be your town or mine.
Most of the residents of Falluja have deserted as American troops have entered to flush out insurgents. One can only imagine the kinds of stories the Falluja residents would tell us, if we could meet them face to face.
Sometimes I think about how God looks down at the earth and I ponder these words from Psalm chapter 8: "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you care for him." Psalm 8:3 (NIV)
Just this morning I was thinking of the old Shaker hymn, "How can I Keep from Singing?" One verse says,
My life goes on in endless song
above earth’s lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
that hails a new creation.
Above the din of pain, war and suffering, brothers, God holds this world together by his power. If he doesn’t, this little planet would blow to smithereens tomorrow.
From satellite photos we’re all just specs on the globe — the kings and the paupers alike. And yet, for every human who has ears to hear the message of Jesus’ love, there is hope. Here is my prayer for you today:
"Oh God of hope, who made us a little lower than angels, fill us with hope today. Above the lamentations of this world, speak into the hearts of those who cry to you for help. Lord Jesus, bring your Kingdom today, even as your will is done."
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