Floods and Prayer

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In our church we’re blessed by having a number of folks who lead us in pray and do so with great insight. This is the prayer that was used this past Sunday. As many of you know, parts of the UK are currently experiencing severe flooding.

MUD

There is mud everywhere
On the furniture, on the door handles,
On the computer, on my new carpet,
On the television remote control,
There are muddy footprints all up the stairs -  and it smells …. terrible!

And there is more rain coming and more mud.

Why aren’t there more sandbags?
Why haven’t the government done what they’ve promised?
Why does my insurance policy seem inadequate?
Why does God keep letting it rain?
He’s meant to be in charge isn’t he?
Why does bad stuff happen to good people?
Why, O Lord, do you stand afar off?

I am angry and frightened and depressed and worried and angry and confused and angry.
Especially, I am angry at being treated as a statistic.
I’m not a statistic,
I’m a person with a name and a family and dreams and commitments
And questions
- and quantities of smelly mud.

‘This is what the Lord says:
Fear not, for I have redeemed you,
I have summoned you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
For I am the Lord your God ….  and I love you.’     Isaiah 42 [show]Isaiah 42 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged(1) till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law. Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it: "I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them." Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the coastlands. The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes. For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained myself; now I will cry out like a woman in labor; I will gasp and pant. I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will turn the rivers into islands,(2) and dry up the pools. And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them. They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, "You are our gods." Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one,(3) or blind as the servant of the LORD? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious. But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, "Restore!" Who among you will give ear to this, will attend and listen for the time to come? Who gave up Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey? So he poured on him the heat of his anger and the might of battle; it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand; it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart. Footnotes 1. [42:4] Or 'bruised' 2. [42:15] Or 'into coastlands' 3. [42:19] Or 'as the one at peace with me'
: 1-4

We pray especially for all those affected by the recent flooding but also for all those who feel ‘flooded’ by other life events – loneliness, bereavement, pain and suffering of the mind and body.
May the church and its people offer the kind of listening and support that reassures and comforts,
that holds the hope,
that speaks of your mercy,
that speaks of you grace,
that speaks of your wisdom, not the world’s.

That speaks of a God who knows them not as a statistic, but by name and who loves them.
Above all, may they turn from putting their security in bricks and mortar and health and prosperity and place their trust in you.
So that your name may be glorified by their peace and faith in the midst of adversity.
Amen