Photo by Rohingya refugee, Ro Niyamot Ullah

HOW LONG, LORD, WILL YOU FORGET THEM?

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.

Psalm 13

This Psalm was one of my favorites at those times when I was struggling in a huge way with depression. Depression to that extent does not happen too much anymore for me. But grief gets me down today, making me feel sorrow for the many terrible things I see happening in the world today. I’m sure you, my readers, know it too. And the genocide is the worst.

The compassion I’ve come to feel for people like the Rohingya makes me suffer at times, to think how very unjustly they are being treated, because of the hatred that has been shown to them. And I think of how very terrible it must be to know that there are people who hate so much that they want to destroy you—to no longer be part of this earth.

How very terrible it must be to be thought of in this way! Not to find acceptance in any part of the world. Not to have a country of your own where you will be safe!

Although this Psalm helped me seek God in years gone by in my personal suffering, I now seek God on behalf of the world I see suffering:

“How long, Lord?”

“Look on me and answer, Lord my God!”

Some time ago, I shared this Psalm with the Rohingya people I connect with. And I hope it will encourage them to find comfort in their faith. I hope they will read it often—whenever they feel the waves of hopeless feelings they go through. I hope they will be able to tell the God they believe in:

“And yet I trust in your unfailing love.”

And when we, in the comfort of our homes, feel the way most of us do when we hear of the ugly things happening in the world today, I hope we will also read this Psalm and reach out to God on behalf of a suffering world:

“How long, O Lord, will you allow the world to suffer as it does today?”

And yet may we remember the good you have done in the past. We remember how, even now, we see your goodness shine through in the nature around us. Help us bring the love and goodness you give us in our lives, to those who suffer.

Help us show compassion for those who suffer.

marja