Day 4: In a foreign land
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? (Psalm 137:1-4)
Our Father in heaven, Sovereign, Merciful, God, You are our help... our shade at our right hand...You watch over our coming and going both now and forevermore (Psalm 121:1, 5, 8)
You know everything about our circumstances. You know when we find ourselves in desperate situations because of our own wrong choices, because of the wrong choices of others, or because of the cascading and far-reaching troubles and difficulties of this broken and imperfect world. Today we lift to You all of these circumstances.
We pray for those who are far away from home, strangers and exiles in a foreign land. Those who with heavy hearts have hung their harps on the poplars, too full of despair for music or song.
We pray for those who are in a foreign land because of unwise choices, open rebellion or willful disobedience. For those wandering in the fog of addiction. For those trapped in overwhelming difficulties, troubling life-styles, and dead-end circumstances.
We pray for those who have been thrust into foreign lands—refugees from war-torn lands, immigrants seeking shelter and asylum; displaced populations. For those who have left loved ones behind. For families that have been separated. For children who have been abandoned or stranded. For those who cannot go home for last goodbyes. Oh Lord, You see their tears, You know their pain.
We pray for migrant workers, immigrant populations, the exploited and the marginalized, the downtrodden and the overlooked. Every one of them a soul You love. Every one of them a life You paid for with Your precious blood.
Many of the issues are tangled and complex. O may we turn to You and seek Your wisdom, compassion, mercy, and justice. O may we make it a priority to pray for and minister to the lost, the poor and the afflicted, remembering that You are not pleased with empty religion or faith without works of love and service (Isaiah 1:11-17; Matthew 25:34-46; James 2:14-17). Remind us of the words You spoke to Your people through the prophet Isaiah:
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow (Isaiah 1:17).
Oh God, give us the fortitude to pray for the forgotten, the lost, the wandering, the confused, the disoriented. You love them even more than we do, And You are able to break through where we cannot—even in the most dire straits. Hear our prayers, O Lord! Give them a place of shelter. Speak into their hearts the call of home.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Refrain: Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
~ Frances J. Crosby ~ 1869
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