Daily Worship

A prayer of mourning

Fiona Reynolds September 21, 2025 0 0
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Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 (NIV)

18 You who are my Comforter in sorrow,

my heart is faint within me.

19 Listen to the cry of my people

from a land far away:

“Is the Lord not in Zion?

Is her King no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images,

with their worthless foreign idols?”

20 “The harvest is past,

the summer has ended,

and we are not saved.”

21 Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;

I mourn, and horror grips me.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why then is there no healing

for the wound of my people?

 

1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water

and my eyes a fountain of tears!

I would weep day and night

for the slain of my people.

Oh God, just when I think I have no more tears to shed,
there is yet more pain, more violence, more suffering;
it feels never-ending,
and I want to turn away;
only, 
the anguish of people near and far
rips at my soul
and pierces my heart.
It is as if there is no way to escape.
Wherever I look there is hatred and fear,
bloodshed and cruelty,
death and destruction,
it abounds like wildfire 
ripping through bodies made in your image.
Where is the comfort for those who mourn?
Where is the peace promised to all?
Where is the justice?
Where?
When?
How?

AMEN.