This past month, many of us have seen gruesome images and videos coming out of the Middle East, always in turmoil but currently bowed low under the ISIS movement, the slaughter and torture of innocents, beyond what we can imagine. For me, what makes this cruelty more real and hit close to home, is that this regime makes no idealistic promises for the world, but instead, it is very open and blatant in it's desire to wipe out Christians, to destroy anyone and anything that claims to serve and follow Jesus Christ.
Just last night it came to my attention that the brother of a friend is in the Middle East, working as a missionary for Jesus, and he texted his sister to pray like never before because at that moment members of ISIS had taken over their mission, and were going door to door, pulling children from their parents and asking them to recant their faith in Jesus... not even one of them recanted, and so were killed in front of their parents... one house at a time, one door broken down at a time.
As my little one slept soundly in her bed, surrounded by fairy wings, the warm glow of a night light, and her little snuggly rabbit, other mothers were hiding in corners of their homes, clinging tightly to their precious babies, waiting.... waiting for their door to come down next.
Why? Why are we blessed with life and happiness, and half way across the world mourning wails ring out through the night alongside gunfire?
In my head I have so many rational answers that I can afford to formulate safely inside my air conditioned home which sits in one of the 50 states of the most powerfully guarded and secure first world country known to history. It is easy for me to quote Scripture from the many translations laying around my home gathering dust, about the strife promised by God between Isaac and Ishmael as a result of Abraham and Sarah taking matters into their own hands. I can even debate with you and draw beautiful graphs of the End Times prophecies given to us in the Old Testament,and in Revelation, and even out of Jesus' own mouth, and how so many of these prophecies have come to pass and this is just one more of them to mark off our list.
But my heart.... my heart cannot fathom it! My heart cannot form words of debate or rationale. My heart is broken, and the Holy Spirit within me cries out in murmurs that cannot be understood, I weep and I wail, and the night has gone by so very slowly for me, though I am certain it is passing much, horrifyingly slower for those who heard their babies say "I will not deny Jesus" as their last words.
... and it is in THOSE words that my heart and my mind are able to meet, that is where my heart is comforted, that these children would say, in the face of evil, "I will not deny Jesus."
Don't get me wrong, I still cannot imagine an evil that glories in the massacre of men, women, and children, but THAT is not where we should let our minds and hearts linger, not in the power of evil -
THIS IS WHERE OUR HEARTS AND MINDS SHOULD MEET AND TAKE JOY:
That we also cannot reconcile in our minds a faith and grace so strong, that the weakest among us do not hesitate to stand up to that evil - and that is the miracle of the supernatural power given to those who walk with the One True God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It's an amazing thing to know that Jesus is real... to really, truly know that He is with us here and that He is especially with those being slaughtered there... read Romans 5:20-21 for proof of this...
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is amazing to know that Heaven is real... to really, truly know that Jesus has prepared a place for those of us who receive Him into our lives and have a relationship with Him as Our Savior and King. A place where each of us will go at the moment of death, where there is no more evil, no more tears, and we are immediately in the real, physical presence of Our Lord.
Along with the horrific details of death coming from the Middle East, there are also fantastic, awe-inspiring accounts of angels seen standing by the side of prisoners, of Jesus appearing in the midst of secret prayer circles, blinding light from above thwarting enemy combatants, and I am sure that more and more of these encounters will be revealed as history unfolds itself.
So tonight, do not be filled with doubt, dread and fear because of the evil in this world, but instead take heart. God is in control, and evil will not and IS NOT winning. Whether we live in peace for the duration of our lives or we find ourselves trembling in fear behind a door being broken down by evil, God will indeed be with us, He will carry us, and we will not face a single moment alone.
Pray for our country, pray for the innocent lives being slain, and pray for Jesus to return quickly, and in the meantime, I leave you with Paul's words written from prison before he was martyred for Christ's sake:
2 Corinthians 4:8-12The Message (MSG)
7-12 If you only look at us, you might well
miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned
clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s
incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know
for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and
battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but
we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God
hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. What they
did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus
did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for
Jesus’ sake, which makes Jesus’ life all the more evident in us. While we’re going
through the worst, you’re getting in on the best!
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