Pharaohs and Shopping Lists

You would think that by now that I should not be surprised.  Almost every year since Global Infusion began, we have had teams going to countries where some measure of political uprising, war, or natural disaster occurs.

• 2004:  an Asian tsunami devastated the eastern part of India.
• 2005:  Viktor Yushchenko finally took office as the president of Ukraine following an assassination attempt on his life because he was too “pro-West.”
• 2006:  over 200,000 people took to the streets for the “Democracy Movement” in Nepal, as they came against the king after he instituted undemocratic rule and martial law.
• 2007:  the streets of Juárez, Mexico turned into an official war zone with military tanks rolling down the streets.
• 2008:  the deadly Sichuan earthquake in China measured 8.0, killing over 70,000 people.
• 2009:  both flooding and persecution of Christians hit the Indian state of Orissa.
• 2010:  it was the “Red Shirt” civil revolt in the streets of Bangkok, Thailand.
• 2011:  “Chaos in Cairo” has erupted in Egypt.

There is a bigger picture to all of this, of course.  First of all, God is in control.  Regardless of how often we are bombarded with reports of devastation, He is still God.  When we hear about these kinds of events in other countries, we should be very thankful we are not living through it ourselves.  If that indeed is the case, then we should be driven to our knees in prayer.  We have to believe as Christians that it is our responsibility to reach the generation we live in with salvation of Jesus Christ, and concurrently help those who do not have the means or resources to adequately help themselves.  Both of these concepts are mandated to us in the Bible.

So now we hear there is a problem in Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs.  The country that held the Israelites captive for 430 years.   The country that hosted Jesus, Mary and Joseph in their escape from Herod.  The country where we have Christian brothers and sisters watching and waiting to see what will happen around them next.  It is time to pray.  Not just the average North American shopping list of prayer needs — the kind where we focus about ninety-five percent of our prayers on asking God for things we “need,” or need Him to get done for us so we are not continually inconvenienced.  I am certainly not implying that we do not have situations in our lives that truly need the intervention of God in a miraculous way, I am simply encouraging us (myself included) to intentionally pray for the salvation of this world, because souls are all that matter to God.  Take time right now to pray for the country of Egypt, and our contact.  Pray that the issues there will resolve peacefully, God will have His way, and many will know the salvation of our Lord.