On Friday 11th March 2011 Japan was struck by a massive earthquake of 8.9 magnitude which was later upgraded to 9.0. This created a tsunami with waves traveling at 500mph. These two phenomena alone caused massive damage. Ongoing aftershocks have numbered more than 150, one of those being of 7.0 magnitude.
The final death toll is expected to reach more than 10,000. On top of all these challenges, the crisis with their nuclear reactor is also affecting the nation badly.
What can we do? Well we can do something. We can pray for Japan. The least we can do for those who are suffering in Japan right now is to remember them in our prayers
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Father in heaven, you are the absolute Sovereign over the shaking of the earth, the rising of the sea, and the raging of the waves. We tremble at your power and bow before your unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways. We cover our faces and kiss your omnipotent hand. We fall helpless to the floor in prayer and feel how fragile the very ground is beneath our knees.
O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our sins, not against you.
And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.
Have you not encouraged us in this? Have we not heard a hundred times in your Word the riches of your kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not a thousand times withhold your judgments, leading your rebellious world toward repentance? Yes, Lord. For your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts.
Grant, O God, that the wicked will forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Grant us, your sinful creatures, to return to you, that you may have compassion. For surely you will abundantly pardon. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, will be saved.
May every heart-breaking loss—millions upon millions of losses—be healed by the wounded hands of the risen Christ. You are not unacquainted with your creatures' pain. You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all.
In Jesus you tasted loss. In Jesus you shared the overwhelming flood of our sorrows and suffering. In Jesus you are a sympathetic Priest in the midst of our pain.
Deal tenderly now, Father, with this fragile people. Woo them. Win them. Save them.
And may the floods they so much dread make blessings break upon their head.
O let them not judge you with feeble sense, but trust you for your grace. And so behind this providence, soon find a smiling face.
In Jesus’ merciful name, Amen.
Note: A Prayer adapted from http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/a-prayer-for-japan
We need to pray without ceasing for Malaysia because prayer can move mountains. When people pray, God moves. God responds to our prayers. Often , we are waiting for God to move. But God will not move until His people pray. As the lyrics in Ng Wah Lok’s song espouse: "… every time I pray I move the hands of God, my prayer does the things my hands cannot do." This is a powerful phrase expressing how God can respond to our prayers and move His mighty hand on our behalf.
