When War Arrives
#197
Below is the note that I sent to our congregation on Friday about the War in Iran. There is A LOT that could be said, but I hope to help our congregation to see things from a non-media-driven perspective and instead to see things from a biblical and theological perspective.
Friend,
When I heard about the bombings and the war in Iran last Saturday, I, like many of you, said a prayer for peace, but is that all that I can do? How should a Christian feel about war? How do I reconcile violence with my faith?
I can’t answer all of those questions, but let me start with one of the more profound scriptures that can be found in Joshua 5:13-14. Joshua is leading God’s people into the promised land, and he sees an angel.
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
Is God for them or us? We want God to be on our side. We want to be in the right and for others to be in the wrong. We want God to side with us, as individuals and as a country, but the truth of our theology is that God is for all of us. The end of our story is found in Revelation 7:9, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”
The question is not whether God is for America or Iran (or Russia or Ukraine, etc.), because he has already answered that question: Neither. God is for his people. As the old song goes, “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.”
And during war, God grieves. Because war devastates, annihilates, and brutalizes. It’s atrocious. It’s occasionally necessary. (Much work has been done on the theological idea of a “Just War.”) And God can and does redeem war, but it is still full of grief and pain for everyone impacted.
So what do we do about the wars in our world?
We pray. We pray. We pray. And we pray some more.
We remember that those on the other side may be our enemies (To utilize a previous description of an enemy- an enemy is someone opposed to our goals.), but they are God’s creation and loved by him.
We reach out to people to comfort people who have someone closer to the situation than us (Someone with family in the service or family living in the Middle East would be a great place to start.)
We read the Sermon on the Mount. We have to retrain our brain with how to see ourselves and others. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is the most helpful framework of holy living that we see.
We believe in complexity over simplicity. The world wants to convince you with sound bites and headlines to be on its side. Think about a recent conflict that you’ve had with another person, try to explain the history of it, why you felt the way that you did (your history), and how it was (or wasn’t) resolved. It would take us 30 minutes to explain a lot of things! This conflict in the Middle East is centuries old and immensely tangled. Trust that it doesn’t have simple solutions.
When this happened, my mind went to a song written by Alan Jackson after 9/11 called “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” and there was this honest line that he wrote.
“I’m just a singer of simple songs
I’m not a real political man
I watch CNN, but I’m not sure I can tell you
The diff’rence in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope, and love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is love”
Love,
Aaron