I feel even more unqualified than usual to write on Downs’ topic for today’s devotional. I don’t know much about Jerusalem besides that nearly everyone who’s visited it tells how beautiful it is, that the ongoing conflict in the region sometimes makes newspaper headlines and sometimes doesn’t, and that it’s a significant location in the scriptures, described in detail multiple times. At first I thought it seemed strange to pray for something so difficult to understand, so I thought about it through our lens of bravery.

It’s brave to pray for something we don’t quite understand, simply to be obedient to Jesus. It’s brave to stop praying for ourselves or those near to us to pray instead for something most of us have never seen. It’s brave to commit to praying for something that we have no idea what the outcome is we’re asking for. Brave is, however, what I’m endeavouring to become, so I will gladly pray for Jerusalem.