Tuesday 29 December 2009

So Much Pain.

Sometimes I cry out to God because I just can’t take it any more. The pain, the hurt, the ache… There is so much hate in this earth. So much pain and anguish because of the hate. You walk down the street, and hear swearing, gossip: stories of abuse and fighting; you watch the news and all it talks about is death. Death, death, death. When will we learn to live in harmony? When will we finally be at peace? I consider my life to be fairly hard at times, when I have problems with my friends, and when I worry about what God wants me to do. But then I think of those people out there who don’t even have family. Who don’t even have food. And it puts my small, insignificant problems into perspective. There are people out there who need comfort and love. People who don’t even know what love is. People who don’t know Jesus. I have Jesus. I have family. I know love. I have food and water. I have a place to sleep.

How can I stay quiet and shut up in my bedroom, knowing that, out there in the darkness of the outside world, there are children and adults who are crying out for basic necessities? What right do I have to complain about not having what I want, when I have everything that I need and more?

Why do we simply pretend not to know about those in need? We get so caught up in the business of our own lives that we forget about the emptiness of others’.

And yet, I find myself thinking, what can I do? What can I do? I’m only a teenager; I can’t go flying around the world delivering food and drink and spreading the gospel! I can’t go and evangelise in the poorest parts of Africa to show people there that there is hope! What can I do?!

The answer seems too simple to me. So simple that I have to remind myself that it’sm probably the most effective thing that I can do at this point in time, while I am 15 years old and unable to help physically. We can pray. We can pray for those who don’t know how to. We can pray for those people who ARE physically going out there and showing people that there is a way to know love. We can pray for the generosity in peoples’ lives (including our own) to give money and time to charities and organisations who want to do something about it. We can pray that God will move with mighty power throughout the nations and let the whole world see his glory.

It struck me that we musn’t just pray for small things that are going on in our own life, and for specific little details. We should pray for huge things; for enormous dreams that would be miraculous. God is a miracle-maker. And our prayers do have an effect. How hard it is to remember that though, when we are praying for things that we won’t actually see the outcome of. But it’s so important that I remember. So important.