[P.S. to this post: Please pray this week for a young couple who are expecting a baby with a severe chromosomal condition. The baby may be stillborn or live a handful of hours, but is not expected to live very long. The 24-year-old mother was advised to end the pregnancy, but courageously continued it. Barring a miracle (and God is able!), this couple will be saying goodbye to their first child this week. Please pray for them, their families, and friends as they walk through the next few days.]
“Those who trust the Lord are like Mount Zion, which can never be shaken.
It remains firm forever.” (Psalm 125:1 GW)
A few days ago it dawned on me that the missionaries in Turkey that we help support could have been in the earthquake last week. I do not know what city they live in. All their emails have, “For security reasons please do not forward this e-mail or post it any public place (especially not on the internet)” at the top, and they are very careful as to what identifiers they include in correspondence. But yesterday – and with a big sigh of relief – I read an email that they had sent, reassuring us that they were 600 miles from the earthquakes and just fine. The husband and other missionaries were on their way to the disaster area to bring whatever relief they could to the people who have lost so much. As I’ve read a few articles on this earthquake, I’ve realized how terribly damaging this was to the region. Here are quotes from one article:
“The confirmed death toll from the deadliest quake in the region in two decades stood at more than 22,000 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria four days after it hit.”
“Hundreds of thousands more people have been left homeless and short of food in bleak winter conditions and leaders in both [Turkey and Syria] have faced questions about their response.”
“Rescuers, including teams from dozens of countries, toiled night and day in the ruins of thousands of wrecked buildings to find buried survivors. In freezing temperatures, they regularly called for silence as they listened for any sound of life from mangled concrete mounds.”
“In the Syrian town of Jandaris, Naser al-Wakaa sobbed as he sat on the pile of rubble and twisted metal that had been his family’s home, burying his face in the baby clothes that had belonged to one of his children. “Bilal, oh Bilal,” he wailed, shouting the name of one of his dead children.”
“The death toll from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and several powerful aftershocks across both countries has surpassed the more than 17,000 killed in 1999 when a similarly powerful earthquake hit northwest Turkey. It now ranks as the seventh most deadly natural disaster this century, ahead of Japan’s 2011 tremor and tsunami and approaching the 31,000 killed by a quake in neighboring Iran in 2003.” *
While I am grateful that the people I know of were safe, there are so many others in such desperation. Sometimes, there are just no words for such destruction, devastation, and loss. So, we pray.
God of the Earthquake, the Fire, the Wind, and the Still Small Voice,
We cry out to you today for the people in Turkey and Syria who have experienced this deadly earthquake. We ask for mercy for the tens of thousands who have died. We cry out for supplies for the hundreds of thousands who are homeless and needing basics like warmth, water, food, and shelter. We ask for comfort and rescue to come soon for those still trapped in destroyed buildings. We pray for safety, strength, endurance, patience, and wisdom for rescue workers who are delicately working to free victims. We ask that aid would get to where it’s needed, and that all aid organizations, government organizations, etc. would quickly create systems and collaborate with each other to easily provide people what they need. We pray for favor with local authorities and that rescuers, missionaries, and other foreign nationals trying to bring aid and comfort will have protection from aftershocks, unstable buildings, corruption, looting, or other crimes. We pray for rescuers’ spouses and children who they leave behind as they go to help. You have shaken the land and torn it open; now we ask you to mend its fractures, for it is quaking. You have shown your people desperate times; you have given them events that make them stagger. Now we ask that the physical needs of these people would be met and their hearts willl be softened and opened to you, Lord Jesus. Save them and help them with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered. We ask all this in the strong name of Christ, Amen.
“You have shaken the land and torn it open;
mend its fractures, for it is quaking.
You have shown your people desperate times;
you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner
to be unfurled against the bow.
Save us and help us with your right hand,
that those you love may be delivered.” (Psalm 60:2-5 NIV)
“The Lord said [to Elijah], “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.” (1 Kings 19: 11-13 NIV)
*https://www.theepochtimes.com/rescues-provide-glimmer-of-hope-among-earthquake-ruins-as-toll-tops-21000_5048386.html?ea_src=ai&ea_med=search