God,
The call to come is “madness,”
The tourist board has said.
I love you though you’re crazy.
But is love recompensed?
So many have grown weary.
The love of nation, cold.
But can love still continue
When pain is the return?
For madness is the answer
To justice that is void.
Unless sanity, dependent,
Just blames the other, whole.
The judge avoids recusal,
So his judge suffers suit.
Your judge is fully biased,
No, your judge is at fault.
At least the law, ascendent,
Is better than more strife.
But bullets past still linger.
The court is paralyzed.
And so too is the cabinet,
Not meeting once again.
We cannot solve our problems,
Until our problems solved.
God, your wisdom needed—
Is found in synonym:
Madness, like to foolish,
Your way, rejected, pfft.
How can the meek be blessed?
The powerless, of power?
God, they can fix nothing.
We know because we are.
We want the good, the honest.
Corruption, we receive.
Or will our problems vanish,
If humble we become?
What can we do to change things,
When doing grasps at straws?
So should we try not doing?
Just sit: You fight for us.
Then come God, do your bidding.
Just spare me and my kin.
We are the ten left, righteous.
The remnant who you save.
This is the pride that binds you.
We rest in self-deceit.
So what then, God? Forgive us.
But still we flail, lost.
What can save our nation?
What can save my soul?
God, we have no answers.
Distraught, or else aloof.
One, to void surrendered.
Two, self-anesthetized.
Give us hope, our savior.
Your love is true, complete.
Is with us in our weakness.
Gives strength to stand, and see
The goodness still existent.
The honest in the land.
Promote them, in your power.
Preserve it, in our hearts.
The world sees this as madness.
The legal mind, a mess.
My rights: I fight not for them.
They soil the towel with feet.
Still God, with expectations
We wait in hope your will.
In this life or the next one,
But please, let it be both.
Or rather in your kindness,
Excuse us in the next.
Yes, me and my kinsman.
But also the corrupt.
Bring them to repentance;
Let me speak your word.
May it reach the princes.
May it bless the poor.
With fire in my belly:
Your good news is at hand.
Amen.
To receive Lebanon Prayer by WhatsApp, please click this link to join the closed comments group.
Lebanon Prayer places before God the major events of the previous week, asking his favor for the nation living through them.
It seeks for values common to all, however differently some might apply them. It honors all who strive on her behalf, however suspect some may find them.
It offers no solutions, but desires peace, justice, and reconciliation. It favors no party, but seeks transparency, consensus, and national sovereignty.
How God sorts these out is his business. Consider joining in prayer that God will bless the people and establish his principles, from which all our approximations derive.
Lebanon Prayer places before God the major events of the previous week, asking his favor for the nation living through them.
It seeks for values common to all, however differently some might apply them. It honors all who strive on her behalf, however suspect some may find them.
It offers no solutions, but desires peace, justice, and reconciliation. It favors no party, but seeks transparency, consensus, and national sovereignty.
How God sorts these out is his business. Consider joining in prayer that God will bless the people and establish his principles, from which all our approximations derive.
Sometimes prayer can generate more prayer. While mine is for general principles, you may have very specific hopes for Lebanon. You are welcome to post these here as comments, that others might pray with you as you place your desires before God.
If you wish to share your own prayer, please adhere to the following guidelines:
1) The sincerest prayers are before God alone. Please consult with God before posting anything.
2) If a prayer of hope, strive to express a collective encouragement.
3) If a prayer of lament, strive to express a collective grief.
4) If a prayer of anger, refrain from criticizing specific people, parties, sects, or nations. While it may be appropriate, save these for your prayers alone before God.
5) In every prayer, do your best to include a blessing.
I will do my best to moderate accordingly. Thank you for praying for Lebanon and her people.
Jayson Casper 