VICAR

The flu epidemic currently plaguing Europe has taken many lives. There are all sorts of winter bugs keeping children and workers at home. The old are particularly affected at this time of year and, from my experience, are the least likely to switch their heating on. Meanwhile, abroad in warmer climates, Dengue is resurgent, as are Malaria and other killer diseases which bring horror and death to so many parts of the globe.

I am often asked on Alpha courses why God should be worshipped when he allows for such suffering on earth. How do you expect me to believe in God, asked Woody Allen, ‘when only last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of my electric typewriter?’

For a while now, at least in the Western world, the existence of any form of pain, suffering or evil has been regarded as evidence for the non-existence of God. If a good God existed, people say, these things wouldn’t. But they do and, therefore, He doesn’t.

I refer these queries to further study. To The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis; God, Freedom and Evil by Alvin Plantinga; and Evil and the Cross by Henri Blocher.

Meanwhile, let us pray for the sick, Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine. May Your Sunday and the week to come be peaceful and full of progress and happiness.

Dear Lord,

We confess our need for you today. We need your healing and your grace. We need hope restored. We need to be reminded that you work on behalf of those you love, constantly, powerfully, completely. Forgive us for trying to fix our situations all on our own. Forgive us for running all different directions and spinning our wheels to find help, when true help and healing must be found first in You. Forgive us for forgetting how much we need you, above everyone and everything else. We come to you and bring you the places we are hurting. You see where no one else can fully see or understand. You know the pain we’ve carried. The burdens. The cares. You know where we need to be set free. We ask for your healing and grace to cover every broken place. Every wound. Every heartache. Thank you that you can do far more than we could ever imagine. Thank you for your Mighty Power that acts on behalf of your children. We reach out to you and know that you are restoring and redeeming every place of difficulty, every battle, for your greater glory. Thank you that you will never waste our pain and suffering. We love you. We need you today.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen