Shalom Shalom!
Normally my week days start by listening to the morning news, mostly on TV. In the past couple of weeks I have heard about the deployments. Military personnel having their records checked, shots updated and dental work documented. Then load up on aircraft for the other side of the world.
I have never been a real warmonger. But I do believe that we have the right to protect ourselves. But as all these mostly young people gather together to hear words of encouragement and support from Governors, Generals and president. I look at all those young faces. I see the pictures of the wives and girlfriends, children and I have a little heartache. I feel a little fear because no one really knows where this next round of conflict is headed.
We have sort of been in a war of sorts for a long time, terrorism strikes and leaves people all around the world shaken and scared. I can’t think of a time when we really had peace. It is sort of like there always has to be some type of conflict/War someplace just to keep the world turning. The only difference is how close it is to home.
Some say it is the end times, the signs are there. Perhaps they are right. But we had the world wars that a lot of people thought the same then.
I was really young when Vietnam ended, middle school 8th grade. My memories of all that time come from TV. I remember images of war, men loading and unloading from helicopters. Some with bandages needing help, others being carried. I seem to remember what seems like hours of machine guns firing, shells flowing out the side. Some on the ground and others are pointed out the door of a helicopter.
I remember seeing radical different pictures, young people with long big hair protesting. Yelling Peace, Peace and sometimes-violent outbreaks. The peace symbol. The Chicken foot shape in a circle, and the holding of the hand with 2 fingers. Hippies and activist having sit-in’s and being arrested. I do remember older kids, high school age wearing tie die stuff, saying Peace man, as they came to the bus stop. Some of them, had a real chance of being drafted.
And it ended, the pictures in mind were the crowds around the Embassy in Saigon, helicopters evacuating people, desperate terrified people. We were running, and leaving the people to fin for themselves. The pushing of the helicopters off the side of the carrier because they were not going back.
I remember watching the arrival of the POWs returning to the United States. Live coverage that pretty much stopped the US for a few minutes. The witnessing of the damaged, thin men that were held in captivity, some for years. The sign that it was really over.
Having all these images some of them only a few days old really were more disturbing Knowing what is going on is actually very disturbing.
War time is a time when we wonder where God is? Why is He letting this happen? War time is a time when people pray desperate prayers, sometimes begging God to step in and stop the insanity. They beg for peace!
The Israelite people had war. In fact God directed some of it and promised to be with them in the event of a just war. Deuteronomy defines a lot of details on the rules of war. God helps his people fight just wars.
Deuteronomy 20:
1 When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 2 Before you engage in battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the troops, 3 and shall say to them: "Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near to do battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart, or be afraid, or panic, or be in dread of them; 4 for it is the Lord your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory."
All the images in my head of Vietnam seem to over power the newer images from the Gulf war. I guess the lessons are learned from then you loose.
Can we expect God to be with us in War? I believe it depends on our relationship with him, with God. As a nation, if we have a proper relationship, we as a people and our leaders will know when a conflict is just or unjust. But where are we as a nation? Can we expect God to give us peace?
The nation of Israel is documented as winning and loosing repeatedly and all of it depended on their relationship with God. If they drifted and would not repent, they were in for bad times. They had years of warning and calls to repent from prophets. If they failed to respond, the result was death, captivity and slavery.
They wondered where God was, they remembered what the prophets had told them, many times after it was too late.
The Jews were expecting a messiah that would lead them to great victories against their enemies.
Jesus came and did show the way to defeat the enemy, but the people were not looking for the right enemy. They choose to point out other nations and not their own failings.
Luke 12:49-53 ( Jesus Speaking)
49 "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
Our nation has had internal struggles, voting rights, civil rights, poverty and racism. Disagreements over wars, greed, we have people that sue to remove religion from the classroom and to push homosexuality in. We neglect our elderly and children not acknowledging the past and future contributions.
People have Road rage and can be generally disagreeable.
Where is the Peace, the peace for “one nation under God”.
We have communities that are violent, you know the bad places in town. Some have drugs and other crime and people have to hide in their houses.
Where is there peace? Where is God’s peace?
Some homes are war zones of their own. What should be the safest place for a family, can have relationship problems. Husband and wife, Parents and children, The struggles can be financial, they can be emotional but the numbers are growing and people devalue the relationships of their lives.
Where is the peace? Where is God?
Shalom – Peace
In English, the word "peace" conjures up a passive picture, one showing an absence of civil disturbance or hostilities, or a personality free from internal and external strife. The biblical concept of peace is larger than that. it means "to be complete" or "to be sound." The verb conveys both a dynamic and a static meaning—"to be complete or whole" or "to live well
Salom was used in both greetings and farewells. It was meant to act as a blessing on the one to whom it was spoken: "May your life be filled with health, prosperity, and victory."
Jesus used this expression often when talking to his disciples. As the hour of his death approached he was explaining the coming of the kingdom and then he describes the gift of the Holy Spirit as a teacher and comforter.
John 14:25-27
25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
Jesus is sharing the peace that he received from God. He is sharing Inner Peace. The inner peace that comes from knowing you are in a safe relationship, that no matter what happens it will be OK.
For the disciples the receiving of peace did not happen until after the crucifixion. Sort of like they were inheriting it, only receiving it after Jesus death. Their receiving this gift of peace was based on the relationship with Christ.
This peace allowed them to stay together when they may have preferred to run and hide. This peace did not remove the fear of what might happen, it did not immediately gel their faith into something special. But it did allow them to keep control over themselves.
God’s peace is a peace that when your world is going poorly or even horribly wrong you know you are not alone. It allows you to see and feel the presence of God’s hand on your life.
The Jews were mistaken, the messiah was not coming to make the world right. He was not coming to end oppressions and slavery, cruelty and abuse.
He came to announce the new covenant. He came to accept the punishment and to leave the legacy of a new type of relationship. He came to leave the comfort that came from having a sound relationship.
Jesus did change the world. Just not the way of the world. The struggling, the pain and the challenges that we think come from God, really come from the original sin of Adam. God made a world that was peaceful, animals and man getting along.
The original sin turned loose chaos, weeds in the garden and war in the world.
Jesus came to place the original peace back into to heart and soul of man.
Rely on the peace that comes from your faith. Rely on the help God offers, be at peace with God.
Shalom Shalom!
All Glory be to God!
