Article May 13, 1985 Issue

More and more areas of human life are in danger of...

Ulrich Fick

More and more areas of human life are in danger of becoming a desert.

Global confrontation, civil wars and ethnic conflicts are turning prosperous countries into wasteland. Severe famine is attacking the people in just too many countries on the African continent. In affluent countries, a popular attitude of indifference to all concerns which go beyond the immediate interests of the individual—"I couldn't care less"—is about to make many incapable of love and unfit for fellowship. The danger signs are visible everywhere. The desert is ready to take over.

Yet there are means to stop it. One—and perhaps the most effective—counteraction is prayer. As soon as we approach God for the sake of others, we begin to open our hearts to a wider view of the world: we see those around us who need help, and we commit their concerns as well as our own to the God whose thoughts are higher than ours, and whose power surpasses all human understanding. As soon as we pray we submit our selfish wishes to God, who knows better than we what is good. In short, human beings who pray to the almighty and merciful God whom they know through Jesus Christ are no longer an easy target for, or even victims of, the erosion of life.

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