When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
Isaiah 41:17 (KJV)
The psalmist’s cry echoes across today’s news: those thirsting—for safety in winter, for access to medicine, for freedom from violence and disease, for dignity in their suffering—seem unseen by the systems meant to protect them. Isaiah’s promise is not that thirst will vanish or that rescue will come swiftly, but that God hears the cry of those abandoned to want. We might sit with that tension today: the reality of abandonment, and the counter-testimony that such abandonment does not go unwitnessed by heaven. What does it mean to be people who hear what God hears?
What prompted this
Today's headlines are marked by loss, suffering, and the plight of the vulnerable—from active tragedy claiming lives to chronic injustice affecting millions, from those isolated by stigma to those stripped of vital protections. The thread running through is human fragility and the question of who tends to those in need.
- Saudi Arabia shuts key oil pipeline after drone attack launched from Iraq BBC World
- A united Ireland would be 'fantastic' says Trump during Irish visit BBC World
- Ukraine faces 'toughest winter' since Russia's full-scale invasion, UN official tells BBC BBC World
- Death toll from Philippines ferry fire climbs to 35, with dozens still missing BBC World
- 'People are still afraid of those three letters': Fighting the stigma of HIV NPR News
- OPINION: 25 years on, a nation still mourns NPR News
- A cancer survivor hoped to work — then she lost her Medicaid disability coverage NPR News
- Trump meets Ireland's leaders before heading to his golf club in Doonbeg NPR News
- $15m fund launched to create ‘unstoppable momentum’ to end FGM worldwide The Guardian
- Secret son revelation ignites bitter succession dispute in Ugandan kingdom The Guardian