Prayer In The Face of Injustice

Gun shots are fired somewhere. Just the discharge of a rifle. Everyone goes on with their daily business. I decide to stay on the rock where I had come to read my Bible in the quiet of the morning. The noises of this village waking up somewhere in North-East Africa are reassuring. However, the loud bang of the AK47 broke open something inside me. I didn’t know anything was brewing deep down in my soul, but what I am hearing in this village – and have heard in others – is now flooding over me. 

Most men have left to fight or find safety somewhere else. Only women and children have stayed behind. Arriving by helicopter, we could see black spots where huts had been set on fire. Children are literally playing in their home’s ashes. Women in colourful veils tell us how rape is used as a weapon of war. They estimate that 75 percent of the current female population have been raped. Basically, every single woman except for the elderly and the baby girls. A deep anger and a huge sadness flood over me. Why, Lord? 

Shaken, I open my Bible where I left off the day before. Psalm 73. The reality and the power of this prayer at this exact moment in my life changed my relationship with God forever.