Lebanon (MNN) — Lebanon was already struggling with a financial crisis before the coronavirus hit. Government corruption recently caused the Lebanese lira to lose around 40 percent of its value against the US dollar. The cost of goods has gone up, including medical supplies. Now with the coronavirus outbreak and Lebanon on lockdown, suffering is two-fold.
The current pandemic might not be so devastating if rampant corruption and little change hadn’t already crippled the people’s hope.
(Photo courtesy Triumphant Mercy Lebanon)
Nuna* with Triumphant Mercy-Lebanon says, “People have lost any future prospects. They don’t see that this government will make a change and they don’t trust that they will make a change. So it’s as if nothing happened. It is as if all the protests that have happened have not led to any concrete change.”
Triumphant Mercy is doing what it can to offer aid to people in crisis. They typically work with refugees who have come to Lebanon from countries like Syria and Iraq. Now, however, the ministry is having to support Lebanese nationals as well.
“They lost everything,” Nuna says. “So many people lost jobs. So many people lost anything that they have to sustain themselves. The bank situation is hard. The financial situation is hard. There’s so much corruption.”
Even as a believer in Lebanon, it’s not easy. The Triumphant Mercy team is tired, and every day more people come to them for help.
However, Nuna says, “Having Christ is what makes me go and what makes me always see that He is the hope of the nations. He is the one who can change things. He’s the one who can transform situations. But other people, if they don’t have Christ, where would they put their hope? They want to put their hope in political leaders or in social systems or in what?”
That’s another way Triumphant Mercy ministers to the people they serve. Alongside physical relief, they offer something that goes deeper to the heart — Christ’s hope.
“They talk and then we bring Christ in the situation. He’s the one who can change all things. Wherever He goes, when He goes to a place where it is a crippled man, His presence makes him whole. When there is someone who is struggling, His presence brings hope and brings deliverance.”
(Photo courtesy Triumphant Mercy-Lebanon)
In a time when the world is afraid, in a time when Lebanon is hopeless, a strong Church must shout the love of Jesus even louder.
Please stand with our Christian brothers and sisters in Lebanon. Nuna offers a few suggestions.
“I need always prayer for the team that’s working. The team is tired. We call it secondary trauma. So we need prayer for the teams that are working, for all the people that are working, that are hearing story after story after story.
“We also need a change in the land. What I’m praying for right now is about the judicial system in Lebanon, because corruption is being exposed but there is no judicial system that will judge the corrupt.”
Finally, you can encourage those struggling under the weight of dual crises in Lebanon by giving to Triumphant Mercy. Click here if you want to help!
For the global Body of Christ, Nuna says, “Thank you for being next to us in prayer. You always ask me how to pray and that’s amazing just to know that people are praying and people want to know what’s happening so that they can pray in a better way. This is amazing and that’s all we need, I think. We need Jesus to step into the situation.”
*Name changed for security purposes.
Header photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy.
