“O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, 'Violence!' And You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises.” Habakkuk 1:1-3

Over the past few weeks, our news has consisted of devastation, anger, grief, and heartbreak in varying degrees. Hurricanes ravaged the Caribbean islands, Florida, and Texas; then storms swept through Puerto Rico leaving it in ruins. As if these natural disasters weren't enough to turn our country upside down, last week there was a shooting in Nashville, TN in an area Church of Christ that left one dead and eight injured. Furthermore, this week there was another shooting in Las Vegas at a concert leaving fifty-nine dead and over five hundred injured. It seems as though our world is falling apart and people are beginning to forget that we are supposed to love one another.

“O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, 'Violence!' And You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises,” Habakkuk 1:1-3. The prophet cried this prayer as he felt hopeless and when all he needed was assurance that he could make it through whatever was next. Our nation right now feels hopeless with the events that continue to transpire and leave us wondering what could possibly be next? We begin to wonder,“God where are you? Do you see us? Do you see this violence? Help us, God. People have become desperate.” As a nation, we sometimes seem to throw our hands up and wonder what can we do, or if can we do anything at all. Habakkuk prayed, so why don't we?

We tend to throw our hands up at God when things begin to fall apart and wonder how He could let this happen, but what we need to understand is this isn't His fault. The world was once sinless, pure, and undefiled, but then sin came into the world and brought with it pain and suffering. God loves every person on this earth with His whole heart and as much as our heart is hurting with the utter devastation that is happening, imagine how much His heart hurts. Romans 8:38-39: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Right now our nation is facing a great deal of strife and pain, but let us not forget God is here to give us comfort and strength when all else seems to fail. When we feel like we are sinking, God will be there to pull us out of whatever situation we are facing. As all the bad news floods social media, the news, and every facet of conversation, let us as Christians tell about the love of Jesus and be the lights of a nation that seems to have lost its power source.