Forces that Split the Heart

Good morning!

This earlier-than-usual blog post is brought to you by....Insomnia!  Today, I teach my first face-to-face class, and although I don't FEEL bothered by the prospect, something within me is restless.  I've been awake since "three-something".

I've been so burdened, as I'm sure many of you have, about the ISIS/ISIL situation in Iraq and also the Gaza-Israel conflict.  While praying through my insomnia this morning, something I often do in those infrequent times when I can't sleep, God laid on my heart to look into Nahum this morning.  "Nahum?!", I thought?  Seemed kind of random.  Well, let's see.

Are you familiar with the Assyrians?  Hear about them in the morning news?  Well, no, you did not, because the Assyrian Empire no longer exists. Archeologists and historians have validated what the Bible had been telling us - - - there was an Assyrian Empire, and it was mighty.  It was also very, very evil.  And, its nexus, its headquarters were in the city of Nineveh, which was in...wait for it....northern modern-day Iraq.

Assyria was in its heyday in the 7th century B.C., although it was an empire for over 1900 years.  (No, that is not a misprint.)  The Assyrians were a very confident and brutal people.  They mowed down without mercy everyone in their path.  They were not interested in "integration of cultures" as they conquered.  The people of surrounding nations were horrified and extremely fearful that they would be overrun next.

This impotence and sense of doom was so pervasive among the people of God that they simply could not conceive of anyone stopping these butchers.  So, when Nahum began to preach "doom to Nineveh", the Israelites thought it farcical.  The people had taken their eyes off of God and let their fear paralyze them as they gazed at a seemingly insurmountable enemy.

Nahum jumps right into it in Nahum 1:2 - - {The Message version}
"God is serious business.  He won't be trifled with.  He avenges His foes.  He stands up against His enemies, fierce and raging.  But, GOD does not lose His temper.  He's powerful, but it's a patient power.  Still, no one gets by with anything.  Sooner or later, everyone pays."

Those are solemn words.  I've been bewildered and greatly grieved over the massacre of Christians in the Middle East, particularly as ISIS/ISIL marauds its way across Iraq.  It is hard for us to understand why God does not "protect His own."  We know that, obviously, since He is omnipotent, He certainly has the power to do so.  I've been praying that He would work some grand miracle, show Himself in a mighty way to leave no doubt that these Christ-followers were rescued by the one, true God.  But, perhaps I am not praying in the will of God in this matter.  In Isaiah 45:15, the prophet testifies that sometimes God "works behind the scenes."

It is SO difficult to accept Job 11:7-8 - - {The Message version}
"Do you think you can explain the mystery of God?  Do you think you can diagram God Almighty?"

In a way that probably none of us can understand, martyrdom is a part of God's divine plan.  He allows it, though He will avenge it.  Look in Revelation 6:9-11 - - 
"I saw the souls of those killed because they had held firm to their witness to the Word of God.  They were gathered under the Altar and cried out with loud prayers, 'How long, Strong God, Holy and True?  How long before you step in and avenge our murders?'  Then each martyr was given a white robe, and told to sit back and wait until the full number of martyrs was filled, from among their servant companions and friends in the faith."

So, friends in the faith, let's keep praying fervently for our brothers and sisters, knowing that our patient, holy, all-powerful God will make it right.  He won't be trifled with. He is serious business.
Whether we notice it or not, God is at work in the current, horrendous situation in Iraq.  He is at work in Israel, as the Jewish people battle the Palestinian terrorists from Gaza.  Sometimes, He uses mighty forces of nature to get His point across.  Sometimes He uses forces that are unseen, but that split the heart.

God DID wipe Assyria off of the face of the earth, and He will judge the Islamists.  He will judge those who attack and threaten to push into the sea the people of Israel.  These are promises from the Word of God.  How and by what method He does so is up to Him.  Our calling is to not only pray for our fellow believers under severe persecution, but to do everything in our earthly power to help them.  Let's pray about that every time the Spirit brings it to our mind.

Merciful Father, Your Church is under attack in Iraq; Your chosen land, the land of Israel, is under attack as well.  We are in agony over the deaths of Your Beloved.  As when the hand is cut off, the whole body is in agonizing pain, we are cut to the heart over what is happening on the other side of the world.  Hear their cries, O Lord of Angel Armies!  Avenge their spilled blood.  How You avenge them we leave in Your hands, for You, by your own testimony, are "the one and only".  (Isaiah 45:21)  We praise You and worship You and give our lives to You.  In Jesus' name, amen.