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A Prayer for Ukraine

Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

I confess I don't know how to pray today. I confess I've been too discouraged to pray this week. When we hear the news from Mariupol--the complete destruction, and the civilians trapped inside--I am at the limits of my comprehension. 

I pray for them, Father, I do; I pray for their safety and for their lives. Yet so many lives have been lost in this war which is so wrong. Why, Father? "Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" (Psalm 10). We are crying out to you for their lives; hear their prayers, be their strong help in this time of extreme trouble.

Father, we know that you can more than make up for the sufferings of this life, and we praise you for your eternal life, your eternal nature, your eternal perspective. Yet this is the life you have given humans to live; this is the world in which you've asked us to work; and these are the people for whom you've asked us to pray.  What would you have us do, Father? How else would you have us pray?

Father, we also hear in the news about these tensions spilling out here in Canada, even threatening innocent lives here. Stop the madness, the hatred, and the enmity, Father!  Take your rightful sovereign place in all of these situations, in Canada, in Ukraine, in Russia.

In the name of Jesus the Lord,

Amen.

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