Prayer For Justice And Mercy As We See Events In Afghanistan

 In doing some research on God being a God of justice and mercy I, of course bumped into this famous verse from the prophet Micah.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

With our hearts grieving for what we see going on in Afghanistan these days and what will surely be a time of immense suffering for many left behind there, we call out to God and make ourselves available to act as He directs us.

Those words in Micah form a  simple, direct, and profound summary of what we need to give our focused efforts to each day, in the power of God’s Holy Spirit.  Even though what’s mentioned here isn’t complicated, it so often goes against our momentary whims and wishes, and it takes the power of God to work in us to actually want to do what it takes to live these words out, and then God’s power to get us into the proper and sustained action He points out to us.  Let us pray to God with confidence in His desire and ability to help, for that grace and strength to be activated in us today.

Some of these words are my own and some are borrowed from others. 

Loving God, help us to act justly , living with a sense of right and wrong, to walk responsibly before You, and protect the needs of the innocent. Help us to take action when it comes to justice, not to sit passively or stay silent when others are being hurt, abused, in need, or feeling helpless. We don’t know exactly what that looks like in the face of horrors such as what we see taking place in Afghanistan these days but we want to see and hear and understand Your heart for us in all that is taking place.

We ask you Lord to please renew our hearts and minds in you, we pray that you would change us more into your image. Fill us with the reflections of your character, help us to extend mercy, to show love, to walk humbly, to act in ways that are just and right. Without your power and ability, we are not able. Without your spiritual discernment and strength, we cannot see fully what we need to see. Help us to hear your voice, to see things as you see them, to truly reflect the character of Christ in our daily lives.

May we tune out the many voices around us, and strive to tune in to Yours first. May we choose to see others as more important than ourselves. May we long to help serve those who suffer so greatly and to be a voice for those who are oppressed or silenced. May we choose to love mercy and to show kindness to a world that would seek to build walls and barriers instead of bridges and unity. May we choose to walk in humility with you, instead of looking out for ourselves first or setting our own lives up as more important than others’.

We ask that you would unite Your people everywhere to pray for our nation and world, particularly Afghanistan these days.  Help us to set aside our differences and focus on the bond in You that holds us all together. Shine on us Lord, bless us with your peace and presence. Amen