Troubled

Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. —James 4:9

Habakkuk’s spirit was agitated by the spiritual decline of his people. Nehemiah was excessively burdened when he learned about the decaying conditions of his homeland. The Psalmist shed “streams of tears” because the people were ignoring God’s law (Psalm 119:136).

Those who long for family and friends to walk with God will surely shed tears and endure seasons of heaviness on their behalf. When those we love choose to walk in worldliness, our souls will be troubled. It will grieve us.

We cannot hold a complacent attitude toward sin—not in our own life, not in the lives of our loved ones, not in our churches, and not even in our culture. What we can do, and indeed what we must do, is pray. Instead of choosing to care less, let us pray more.

That’s what Habakkuk did. And Nehemiah. And the Psalmist. After all, there is no one who can do anything about it other than God Himself.