What is wrong with us?
Where is the goodness
And the patient grace
And the love of our fellowman?
Bullies degrade
Racists divide
Murderers in the name of vengeance,
Slaughterers for a God I don’t know,
Innocent victims slain again
And again
And again.
One side blames,
The other retaliates.
Some spew vile with a hatred of pure evil.
Fear prevails
Slithers quiet and sly.
When the cruel world tips insane.
And the slide toward violence and inequality speeds,
And the widows weep,
And the fatherless children cry themselves to sleep,
And mothers mourn with a grief that knows no bounds,
While the fathers die a little more inside each day.
When the future seems bleak
And numb is normal
Or fear mounts with a whisper that becomes a roar of anxiety in my ear.
And hiding seems the only recourse—
Disappearing into a place of peace and quiet
A place where perfect peace reigns
And the turmoil surging near can be ignored.
.
I stand before you Lord.
Begging for calm
Gulping ragged breath
Stumbling through the dark chasm to the dawn of you alone.
And I remember
Victory is mine
Because you bled it for me,
The enemy defeated long ago.
This raging-out-of-control world is not my home.
My home resides in your arms Lord,
My refuge and shelter
My peace in this angry storm.
May I never forget that the battle has been won
By the wanton spilling of your
Precious,
Precious
Blood.
Victory is mine
And I kneel in thanks to a God who promises me peace
And is waiting to deliver every minute of every day.
All I have to do is ask.
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Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.