Episode Details

Pray

Read: Ecc 5:8.

Meditation

I rarely buy the newspaper, but just this last Wednesday (at the time of writing) I picked up two different papers, and let me share just a little of what I read. I warn you that these stories are troubling, but there is a point in sharing them.

A four year old Melbourne girl was admitted to hospital this week. Weighing only 9.3kg, she had suffered severe neglect at the hands of her auntie, who was her guardian. She was severely malnourished and could not have survived much longer. When the case came to light, it was discovered that she had hardly attended pre-school, and the government worker charged with overseeing the girl also admitted that they had sometimes filed welfare reports without even seeing her.

Here is another story. As William Dearing, a citizen of Melbourne, was singing the victory song of the Melbourne Football Club after his favourite team’s win at the MCG, a disgruntled supporter of the other team walked past and deliberately knocked the beer out of his hand. Mr Dearing, infuriated, knocked the man down and repeatedly beat him while he was on the ground. Mr Dearing got off from the courts with next to no penalty.

One more story. Two drunk teenagers severely beat and injured an off duty and elderly police officer. There were worse stories than these as well, but I will not go into them now.

My point is that even from a randomly selected newspaper on any given day there are numerous stories of darkness, and hearing so many of these stories may easily tempt us to despair. As Christians it is worse still, because these stories are only the ones the media is willing to report. It really is just the tip of the iceberg.

For example, they will not print the story of Australia’s mass murder of unborn infants. That is a story unfolding every day in our country. Nor will they respond with outrage as the government protects the rights of those who murder these infants. There are laws against even praying within the vicinity of an abortion clinic. Another story the media will not tell you is the story of our country’s infatuation with sexual perversity. In fact the media often serves that agenda by trying to tell us that sexual immorality is normal and healthy, something to be celebrated.

You may be aware that in Victoria, even as we speak, the government is discussing the possibility of criminalising normal Christian practices such as praying and discipling. Why? Because it rejects the idea that homosexuality is sinful. Now I am not denying that the church at large has mishandled and unfairly treated homosexuals and the issue of same sex attraction at different times, but what is being discussed attacks basic Christian practices.

As Christians, we’ve see things like this getting worse and worse in recent history, and we are tempted to stand open mouthed in shock at the world around us. I was in a pastoral situation a few years ago in another church context, and as I was talking with a Christian man in his forties, he shared that as he looked out on the society around him he increasingly felt driven to depression. As he looked at everything that was wrong with the world he felt so overwhelmed that he simply did not know how to handle it. Life seemed full of darkness to him.

As you talk to Christians it is not unusual to hear this kind of sentiment. It is not usually as severe as that example, but still many Christians find this matter difficult, challenging, perplexing, and depressing. There are so many things wrong in the world around us that we hardly know how to take it in, and just when you think it is as bad as it can get, something worse inevitably happens. Again and again.

As the Book of Ecclesiastes continues, Solomon has a word for us on this issue. In verse eight he says: “If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice