What Are We Praying For Vegas? 

With such heavy recent events, anything I thought to post this week seemed basic and silly. Discussing biblical living is, of course, always relevant — but I suppose it seems dumb that we would even need reminders to obey God in basic ways when so many people are facing death on a variety of levels.

With that said, I’ve started to process, what exactly we are all praying for, when we pray for Vegas. Many people, whether they normally pray or not, are now praying.

Certainly, we are praying for comfort for those who attended a concert and saw what no person should ever witness. 

Surely we are praying for those who feel the searing loss of losing someone they love — those who are heart-broken — whose lives will never be the same. 

Most urgently, we are praying for those in critical condition – those whose lives still hang in the balance between life and death. 

We may be praying against more horrific evils, or against future harm coming to our loved ones.

But hopefully, that is not all we are praying for. 

For in 100 years, when all of us are no longer here, we will see there is more we should have prayed for.  Thousands of people are realizing death is not as far away as we pretend it is. And what happens after death means everything. This tragic event is a time to be praying for hurting, confused, heavy, heart-broken people to find the only cure to the problem of death.

We need to pray that those who barely escaped death will see there’s still time to get right with their Maker. 

We need to pray that hurting parents, children, sisters, brothers, and friends will run to the only God who hears their cries of pain and will one day wipe away all their tears. 

We need to pray that those who can’t stop thinking of the ugliness of death will turn to a God who gives eternal life. 

We need to pray that every person watching this drama unfold will feel restless until they too make sure they are ready to meet the One who gave them life. 

We need to pray that these critical moments will produce soft hearts. 

Death is not merely a problem for those whose lives seem prematurely stolen; death is a problem for us all. And there is no better time to solve that problem than before it’s too late. May God use our prayers to grab hold of the aching hearts across our nation. May the good of souls turning to Jesus, having the fate of their eternity altered, come from this horrific tragedy.