Weekly devotion: Pray for infant and maternal healthcare in Gaza
Tents for displaced people in Gaza, April 2024. An estimated 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced as a result of the Israel-Hamas war. Credit: Hosny Salah, via Pixabay.
Even before 7 October 2023 and the subsequent 15-month Israeli bombardment of Gaza, healthcare in the Gaza Strip was under extreme pressure due to the Israeli blockade. Maternity and child health services were deeply impacted, with many essential pharmaceuticals and life-saving drugs unavailable or in short supply.
For many years, we have supported a local partner organisation in Gaza, the DSPR-NECC, to provide pre-conception and antenatal care, and services for children under 6, at its three family clinics in the Shajaia, Darraj and Rafah areas of Gaza. The clinics provide primary healthcare, development checks and nutrition advice.
Staff at the clinics continue to do all they can to help those in desperate need. In the words of an NECC report sent to Embrace during the war: “The destruction of our premises, the limitations of our resources, the poor connection and fragmentation never prevented DSPR-NECC from keeping a light in the middle of darkness and trying to help people live with dignity.”
Bible reading
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:5
Thought
This psalm expresses deep lament. The distress of the psalmist is so great that he compares it to a mighty ocean wave sweeping over him (verse 7). Psalms like these teach us about the importance of being honest with God – of telling him about our pain and anguish, and directing our deep feelings of grief towards him rather than trying to deal with them on our own. God is big enough to handle our questions, our anger, and our sadness.
Prayer
Father God,
We come before you with hearts full of sorrow and grief about the suffering of the people of Gaza. We lift before you all of those injured, killed and bereaved. Those who have lost everything and been displaced.
We cry out for those still held hostage or detained, and for their families and friends.
We pray for the leaders of Gaza, Israel and Palestine. Impart to them the courage and compassion to recognise the humanity in each other and walk towards a just and lasting peace.
Forgive us for when we carry violence and hatred in our own hearts. Help us bring all of our sorrow, grief, pain and doubt to you, that our hearts may be transformed and our lives may become reflections of your redeeming love.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Partner updates
Find out the latest from our partners in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel as the situation unfolds.
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