When injustice occurs far away, it doesn’t really affect you, but it’s different when it’s closer to home. A farmer is shot dead in a cold-blooded attack in his own home just on the other side of Stellenbosch. His young daughter sees her dad lying in a pool of blood. Their lives destroyed forever by … I have to stop myself from saying what I really think of the murderers.

The headlines scream it out the next day. Social networks are full of it. A friend sends me a video that one farmer recorded with his cell phone right there in his bakkie, asking everybody to wear black next Monday. I receive that video a few times throughout the day from different people.

Out of respect people stop their cars in the road at the entrance to their farm. Hundreds of people. Another video appears of three men who are walking from Gauteng to Cape Town to turn the world’s attention to these senseless murders on farms. A big organisation needs only 3 000 votes to get to the 100 000 they need to petition the United Nations about this issue.

I see a photograph of the farmer’s murderers. Someone comments beneath the photograph: You can see the devil in them. That is hard…

But it’s not only the farms that are affected. On the Cape Flats the people live in fear. The umpteenth little girl killed by a stray bullet. “The gangs were shooting so much last night, we couldn’t sleep at all,” says one woman.

In every city and town in our country there is chaos all around. It’s easy to look away and pretend it doesn’t exist. But when it comes so close to you, it’s impossible to look away.

Therefore we must stand together. We must realise that we cannot do this on our own. We need reinforcements. Serious reinforcements. We must pray. We must pray that God will come and help us. As Paul puts it very simply: ²Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well …

Yes, that is exactly what all of us can do! What we can do together. We must pray for our country. We must pray for the rulers who at this stage, in the eyes of us ordinary people, are making a big mess up there. We must pray that God will turn them around and that the crooks will soon be dealt with.

We must pray for the support services. That God will protect them. That He will give them wisdom. That He will help them to stand and fight against injustice.

We must pray for our country. We must pray that God will help us to help our country. We must pray that God will help us to stand together.

And the result?

²… so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation.

O my, how we long to be able to do this. Let’s dream it. Let’s pray for it. Let’s do our part and stand together against the injustice in our country.

Scripture

1 Tim 2:1-7

Reflection

Do you pray for our country?

Do you stand up for our country?

What can you do?

Prayer

O God, we need you. On our own we are making such a mess of things and we are allowing people to be killed one after the other. Please be merciful to us; please come and help us. It is only You who can bring peace. Amen.