On Sunday morning, November 5th at 11:30, a man entered the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas and opened fire on the small group of worshippers. He killed 26 people. The youngest was five years old. God have mercy on their souls.
A Lament for Sutherland Springs
“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” (Jer. 9:1).
“How long, LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” (Hab.1:2).
I lament, O God, for my brothers and sisters who have been slain.
My heart cries out to you for the little ones, singing Jesus loves me just before the screams.
When I hear their sweet swan song, help me hear my own children singing with the breath that is still in their lungs.
And make me mourn over them as if they were my very own.
Keep their innocent faces ever before me.
And make me live with the ugly pain of what could have been – the heavy loss of the great symphony that will never be written, or some beautiful song that will never be sung.
Help me sing the bitter song of Rachel weeping for her children, for they are no more (Mt. 2:18).
Hear my prayer, O Lord!
“Oh, that I had in the desert a lodging place for travelers, so that I might leave my people and go away from them; for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people” (Jer. 9:2).
“Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds” (Hab. 1:3).
Do not let me escape, O Lord!
I lament, O God, for the sickness lodged deep in the human heart.
I lament that I am a shadowy image of the mad archer and his bow.
I lament over every gory desensitizing scene I have funded on the gilded screen.
Do not let me escape, O Lord!
I lament over every dehumanizing phrase I have affirmed with my stony silence.
I lament over every wicked instinct for revenge I have fostered in my heart.
I lament over every idol I have forged from powder and steel.
Do not let me escape, O Lord!
Hear my prayer!
“Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever. Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?” (Psalm 44:23-24)
“Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love” (Psalm 44:26).
Where are you, O God?
Why are you so far away?
When will this wickedness end?
Why does your unfailing love fall silent?
When will you rescue us from ourselves?
Hear my prayer, O Lord.
Forgive me for my sins.
Help me to turn from my wicked ways.
Heal my land (2 Chron. 7:14).
