What is your life?
This morning I awoke to a Facebook post from a young Ukrainian-born friend asking for prayers for her parents and nation.
They awoke to the sounds of explosions and gunfire as their homeland was invaded.
I began to read posts and news stories to answer the question of how I could best pray for these friends I’ve met only briefly in this life and for other believers in Ukraine. What I discovered is they are exhibiting Great Faith! Trusting the Lord, and knowing their lives are in His hands.
One post I read included the following:
It’s not easy to live in such a time, yet it teaches me to value what I had been taking for granted, and it has made me painfully aware of the truth found in James 4:14-15: “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
The only thing we can do now is trust in the Lord, rely on His goodness, and cry out for His mercy. And find comfort in the knowledge that even if evil prevails now, our God is Just, and all those who side with evil today will one day receive their ultimate judgment before His Throne, and on that day, “death shall be no more, neither shall their be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, but the former things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).
The truth is: tanks and gunfire may never reach our streets or they could arrive tomorrow. Either way, we are still at war every single day. Our enemy is not a national leader but an ancient foe who, as the hymn A Mighty Fortress is our God says, seeks “to work us woe.”
He’s having a heyday on this day in Ukraine, but he will not win. In fact, he’s lost already.
Today, let’s pray the truth recorded in the words of that hymn over our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and over those in that nation—in all nations—who do not know God. May they come to know the peace of God that passes all understanding:
And though this world, with devils filled
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo! his doom is sure.
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill;
God’s truth abideth still,
His Kingdom is forever.
Pray for safety for the Ukrainian people. Also, pray for the Ukrainian Christians to live fearlessly in Christ, no matter what comes. May this crisis strengthen the faith of believers and bring lost souls to know the Eternal Hope God offers through Jesus.
And may we live our lives in this knowledge as well.
