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这篇诗篇令我想起在尼日利亚乔斯市的一个恐怖的晚上。盗贼们爬进我们宣教机构的大院，他们用弯刀来袭击值班的保安，等到警务援助到来时，他已经遭受了致命伤。宣教机构的员工把他送去医院，可惜已经太迟了，他为了保护我们丧失了自己的性命。

在那个可怕的晚上，他的爱妻成为寡妇，他的四个年幼的子女成为孤儿。面对这个如此残暴的事件和如此重大的损失，我们可以说什么呢？

作为一个宣教的群体，我们聚集在一起来处理我们的感受——内疚、忧伤、痛苦、愤怒。我们翻到诗篇十篇，一起述说我们所经历的，我们与诗人一起呼喊：“耶和华啊，你为什么站在远处？在患难的时候，为什么隐藏？”（诗 10:1）“ 恶人”已经来过我们的大院，他们在隐密处杀害了无辜的人。

尽管感到被压碎了，然而我们仍与诗人一起祷告说：“其实你已经观看，因为奸恶毒害，你都看见了，为要以手施行报应。无倚无靠的人把自己交托你，你向来是帮助孤儿的。”（诗 10:14）

神如何看待这个悲剧带来的忧伤和困苦呢？祂为父的心必然感到伤痛，祂更藉着祂的子民来彰显祂的关怀——与家人一同忧伤，支付殓葬费用，为子女们设立教育基金。透过他们的帮助，伤心的家人看到，神是向来帮助孤儿的。

This psalm reminds me of an awful night in Jos, Nigeria. Thieves scaled the wall of our mission compound. With machetes, they attacked the guard on duty. By the time help ­arrived, he was fatally wounded. Mission staff brought him to the hospital, but it was too late. He had lost his life trying to keep us safe.

On that dreadful night, his dear wife became a widow— and his four young children, fatherless. What is there to say in the event of such brutality, such loss?

As a mission community, we met together to process our feelings: guilt, grief, pain, anger. We turned to Psalm 10 as we shared our experience. With the psalmist we cried, "Why, LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" "The ­wicked" had come into our compound. From an ambush they had murdered the innocent.

We felt crushed. But we joined with the psalmist in prayer: "You, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless."

How does God take in hand grief and trouble from such a tragedy? His Father-heart hurts with the grieving. He shows care through his people—grieving with the family, paying funeral costs, providing scholarship funds for the children. In their help a hurting family saw that God is the helper of the fatherless