The world is a very hard and harsh place. Look at some of the recent stories that sheds light on what the world sows and reaps. A high school sophomore hangs herself, because of the cruelty of her fellow students. They were relentless in their torture of her. What was her crime? She accepted a date with a couple of boys that asked her out and their former girlfriends took exception to her decision. Unfortunately, she felt so alone and so tortured that her only hope for peace was to take her life.
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Workers in a coal mine in West Virginia and on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico are killed from devastating accidents. Their families hold out hope for good news early in the announcement, only to learn that no hope will be coming. They are in deep grieving as a result.
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Six police officers are gunned down in Mexico as the violence of the drug trade continues to escalate in that country. They are taken because they wore a uniform that stands in opposition to what the killers stand for. Their families are mourning their loss as they struggle to make sense of the senseless.
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And this is just a picture of a few weeks out of this new year. The world goes about its way leaving heartache, suffering, divisions, and tears in its wake. There is no relief and there will be no relief. These same kind of stories will fill our papers and airwaves throughout the rest of this year and will continue into next year and the year after that and actually from now on.
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The world leaves people broken and defeated, seeing no hope on the horizon. It is then that the Father shows us His presence and tells us through Jesus, I love you. Galatians 4: 4-5 affirms this for us, "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His son,..... to redeem those under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. Father, let us cling to you when we feel so alone and hurting. Assure us of your comforting presence and our status as your sons and daughters. Help us to be watchful for those who are especially feeling the wrath of everything the world has to dish out and to hold them until they are strong enough to stand on their own. Thank you and thank you.
