Prayer for a Weary World

We are stilled this Christmas season by a tragedy so horrendous we cannot make sense of it.  We aren’t even meant to make sense of it because it is senseless.  Sin and evil stepped into a world of childhood…and in an instant robbed children and families of futures.  It is heartbreaking and doesn’t make any sense.  Our hearts well up with tears.  We mourn with those who mourn.  Those of us who are teachers, feel for our colleagues in Connecticut, knowing that we ourselves have feared those very moments that they experienced.  Those of us who are parents have empathetically felt an ache so deep that we’ve spent the weekend smothering our babies with kisses, remembering again to not take a moment with them for granted. And we are all stilled, asking for an answer to this tragedy.

We cry out to Jesus saying, “Come, Jesus, Come,” pleading with Him to set right a broken, hurting world.  We ask Him to come in the midst of this tragedy right now and then one day permanently as Rescuer and Ruler of everything.  The old Christmas hymn, “O Holy Night” holds this line:

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

These words from that old hymn have repeated in my mind over and over again this past weekend as I considered that Jesus came once as a baby, as a lamb, as a sacrifice to set souls right with God.  And in reflecting on that first coming, I find myself compelled to plead for Jesus to come again, this time in power and might ready to reign over all, setting everything right.  Our only hope for rescue is Him. 

As the only true rescue, God says He is near to the broken hearted (Psalm 34:18). And so, this Christmas season as we consider Jesus coming near at His birth, will you also pray that He come near today?  Will you pray that He would bring comfort and healing in the midst of tragedy?  These children, teachers, and families have only just stepped into a process of grief that is long from over.  Will you cover them in prayer, asking God to be tangibly near to their broken hearts?