That’s the place (literally and figuratively) where I keep finding myself during the Covid-19 lockdown, now going on its fourth month.
I go down on my knees for thanksgiving.
I see grace—our home; our garden with flowers in bloom; our pets; my family with whom I break bread now that we have no separate schedules; a group of faith brethren with whom I study the Word virtually; and live-streamed worship services on Sundays with songs and messages that make me feel God holds the hands of His children. These are more than the basic needs of man: food, clothing, and shelter. How can I complain?
But when I look at the world outside, at my beloved motherland through my computer screen, my heart bleeds and breaks over some of the scenes. People are dying, starving, suffering from mental exhaustion, begging on the streets, losing (or have lost) their jobs and businesses, and surviving on so little or none at all.
At the same time I cringe at the habitual cursing, callousness, cruelty, coercion, contradictions, conspiracies, plus more—ad nauseum—exhibited by a number of people in charge.
I could not put my grief into words until I came upon my friend Lorenz’s* drawing. His jagged lines—he titled this The Humbling—express all that words could not.
I go down on my knees, totally humbled, crying for help. And so do many of us who want to break free from this jagged life.
In times like these, I cling on to His words of comfort to those who put their trust in Him (Psalm 17-22 NLT):
The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
The righteous person faces many troubles,
but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.
For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;
not one of them is broken!
Calamity will surely destroy the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
But the Lord will redeem those who serve him.
No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
*Some of his works may be viewed at ArtThrobs on Facebook.
2 comments:
That's really all we've got—to believe that our great God is able and He will thus enable. To believe too that their days are numbered—and this is the hard part, to believe that they too will be humbled, fall on their knees and cry out to God for mercy.
My earnest prayer every single day--that they, too, will be humbled.
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