It is often just overwhelming—the news. What we see in our morning newsfeeds, hear on the radio, or see on television. The refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe. The Planned Parenthood videos. Police shooting unarmed people and people shooting police. Mass shootings. Child porn and human trafficking rings. Sometimes it’s just too much and we want to stop paying attention and just focus on our own little worlds, until those, too, are invaded by bad news, like a parent suffering a massive heart attack, an aunt losing a battle with cancer, or mom and dad announcing they are divorcing.
The reality is there is no escaping bad news in a fallen world. It has always been that way. It will always be that way until the Lord returns to set things right. The question is, how do we cope? Our instinct is that we should do something, but in most circumstances we feel powerless to effect any change, so we do nothing. What can I do to help the refugees? What can I do to help put an end to human trafficking? For every problem in the world, that question can be asked. And for some there are practical answers, but frankly there are just too many major problems in the world for any one of us to focus our attention on more than a very few. But they are all urgent. So what to do?
Paul supplies the answer in writing to his protégé, Timothy. This young man was struggling with his new church and the problems of keeping it healthy and growing. The culture was hostile, once-faithful followers were abandoning their faith, and Timothy was overwhelmed by his lack of experience and ability to handle the problems he faced. He was being pummeled by bad news and didn’t know what to do.
In facing the problems today, we hear a lot about using social media to draw attention to them—hashtag campaigns, etc. We hear a lot about marches and protests. We are urged to petition government officials. But how often are we urged to pray? It seems most of the time we are urged to pray about personal problems, but for the social problems of our day or international issues, not so much. Yet Paul is very clear to Timothy that prayer is a crucial response to what is happening in our midst as well as far away.
The truth is we are easily overwhelmed by life’s difficulties, but God never is. He is the only One who can handle all the crappy things that are taking place. And He has given us an opportunity to “do something” about them—to lift them up in prayer. Are you concerned about the refugees? Then pray for them. Are you concerned about the evils of the human traffickers? Then go in prayer against their evil deeds. Are you concerned about racism? Then pray for unity among our people.
You may think prayer is not doing anything, but the Scriptures are full of examples of the power of prayer and repeatedly emphasize its practice among those who follow the Lord, who always made prayer a priority in His life.
Today, recognize you cannot take on all the world’s problems—there are just too many and you will be quickly overwhelmed if you try. But we serve One who is not overwhelmed and who cares about all the people of the world. Take the problems that are on your radar and pray to Him about them. You will be doing something about the problems of the world without being overwhelmed by them.
© Jim Musser 2015
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