In The Midst Of Suffering, Let’s Pray For All Sides
There is a part of our world that is suffering at the moment, the Israelis are suffering and the Palestinians are suffering. Personally, I’m not interested in the politics as much as I’m interested in the suffering- but we can’t ignore the politics. Policy decisions that are made, legislation that is passed, and the game of politics does determine the fates of those directly and indirectly involved. So, while I keep my eye on these decisions, I’m more concerned with the level of human suffering in both these places, trying to find ways in which I can help, even if it’s from afar.
I’ve been exposed to chaotic emergency situations. I remember in 2017, when I was living in London the Grenfell tower caught fire and seventy-two people died. I went to that part of West London and saw the suffering. When I exited the tube, I saw the posters of those missing and thought of the days after September 11, 2001, seeing on the news of people holding up photos of their missing loved ones.
I remember walking out of a church and a woman walked into the entryway. She had such sadness in her face. She told me she was Hindu. I asked her if I could pray for her and she walked over and put her arms around me and cried like a baby because she lost her best friend in the fire. All I knew to do for her was hold her, pray for her, and tell her that Jesus loves her. My heart sank as 13-year-old seeing what had happened to my country in 2001, and my heart sank in 2017. It was then that the situation became real to me when I saw the suffering in front of me.
I remember in 2014 when Chancellor Angela Merkel let in over one-million Syrian refugees into Germany. The processing center for them was in my neighborhood, and every day after work in the middle of winter I’d see men sitting on the sidewalks waiting to be processed. Their suffering bothered me. I went out with my church to serve them food, and three times a week I went to nearby soup kitchen to help serve breakfast and dinner to them before and after work. Their situations became real to me because I saw their suffering and heard their stories face to face.
I remember in 2020 when I lived in Beirut and saw the suffering of the Lebanese people after the explosion, and got to work helping people clean up, feeling a deep sadness for them. Suffering on these levels are incredibly soul stirring. It’s one thing to see the carnage on TV, it’s another thing to be in the middle of it.
In these moments, humans choose sides. So many people in the part of the US that I come from are expressing their sentiments with the suffering of Israelis over the past week. I too sympathize with their pain. Having 1300 of their people innocently slaughtered, women who have been raped or taken for hostage is not right, period. Terrorism is not ok, period. But, we must also have care and concern for innocent Palestinians in Gaza. While the terrorizers are Palestinian, not every Palestinian is a part of the mess. These people have been suffering in ways of their own for seventy-five years. And they too are suffering these days, dying in hospitals in Gaza City, lacking medical supplies, and they need prayer and melted hearts for their pain. Let’s not forget that while God’s covenant comes through Isaac, God promised Abraham that He would look after Ishmael and his descendants.
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ”
In the midst of such pain we often ask, “God, where are you?” These situations can make many lose their faith in God. But what we fail to understand is that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are right there in the center of the conflict and suffering. God gives us an incredible amount of free will and He won’t always interfere in human plans and schemes. He lets situations play out. He could interfere in every one of our situations but that isn’t’ love, that control. In fact, in the buildup before most conflicts happen, God is allowing the warning signs show of what’s about to happen.
Years and months before the Grenfell Tower fire, residents of that complex complained to authorities that their building was unsafe. But, those in authority did not take heed and make infrastructural changes. Before September 11, 2001 happened, American intelligence communities knew things but failed to work with other intelligence to share information. In the years that will follow and what happened last week in Israel, what will international intelligence reveal? How could last Saturday have been prevented?
With our free will comes the nastiest part of the human heart: jealousy, ego, narcissism, oppressing of others, lying, cheating, killing, and the list goes on. God could stop the situations that are sparked from the nastiest parts of our hearts, but many times he doesn’t. But when situations happen and suffering has ensued, God can still work through our sin and our choices to bring change, healing, and renewal.
In the midst of this catastrophe and the myriad of other atrocities happing in our world that we’re not paying attention to, or don’t know about, may we fix our gaze on Christ, Who can get our hearts and souls in alignment with God and Godly living. As Jesus told Peter at the time His arrest, “put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." When we don’t have our hearts and lives in alignment with God, we will have moments of chaos and suffering. And, let us not lose sight to pray for all innocent people caught in the crossfire, whether they be Israeli or Palestinian- or both.
