Oh Lord, behold our affliction
For the suffering of our people.
What sorrow afflicts us at the sight
Of what is happening in our country.
We groan for the victimized and terrorized
At the hands of evil, unscrupulous men.
Who hate the truth and the light
And seek to extinguish our spirit.
That they shall fail is a fact;
This much we know, because we trust in You.
But how we grieve for the mothers and fathers,
Brothers and sisters, friends and loved ones lost.
And this division — this despicable division that infects us!
It won’t even let us grieve properly.
It corrodes everything it touches;
And it threatens to touch everything, no matter how far we run.
But we run to You, oh Lord,
Our hope and salvation,
Our strength and refuge.
Who can stand in Your holy presence?
He who has clean hands and pure heart, Your Word says.
Therefore, we repent, our Savior and King.
We repent of our sins — of our apathy.
Search our hearts and clean us — this we pray.
For our many transgressions, we weep.
Our eyes flow with tears at the sight of what we’ve become,
Even as we know right from wrong.
In full knowledge, we’ve turned from You.
Now our sadness consumes us.
Our enemies rejoice at the sight of our distress.
All that we have, we cannot enjoy,
For we have sought it apart from You.
But there is hope for those who seek after You,
For Your mercies are new every morning.
Your grace covers a multitude of transgressions,
And Your love, Your love can heal us.
Your love is the bond of perfection —
In this love, we can stand united.
In this love, we are secure and
Can rediscover our purpose and essence.
We were created for Your glory;
Only in You is there joy and peace;
We were created in Your image,
And we are to reflect your light throughout the world.
Amen.
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Click here for more prayers from our For America Prayer Journal.