Duke asks "Why?":
Caring for the wounded and sick children of war I have many opportunities to see the families who are devastated by how their child has been drawn into this conflict of men. In war there are times when children are innocently harmed when a bomb or a bullet goes astray or when children are being housed with terrorists. Unfortunately, what is becoming more common here is the purposeful targeting of areas that are known to have children present e.g., markets and streets near schools. It is hard to understand the mind of the person who would purposely target the innocent. It seems like these acts are done without demands of money or power. We are somewhat used to groups taking credit for acts of terrorism with demands of money, release of someone or statement against a government, by blowing up a specific building; however, it seems like such demands have become rare when a suicide bomber explodes in the middle of a fruit stand. It is easy to loose track what is the religious motivation for who is getting blown up. Some days we get wounded children from a Sunni neighborhood and others times they are from a Shiite neighborhood. It should be noted that many families are mixed with the wife a Sunni and husband a Shiite and vice versa. They are able to live in peace and often express confusion about the violence in their own country. The attacks appear to be vengeful explosions against those who require no vengeance. For the thoughtful person the answer to the obvious question of “Why?” seems to be lacking. I was struggling with the question and had just assumed it was part of living in a fallen world. That was until I came across the following verse in Isaiah.
“Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them, who cannot be bought off with silver and who have no desire for gold. Their bows will cut young men to pieces. They will have no compassion on little ones; they will not look with pity on children.” Isaiah 13: 17-18
The “them” that I underlined is referring to Babylon, which happens to be in Iraq. Medes is considered to be ancient Iran. I am not sure that this verse is specifically dealing the current time but it sure rings true. Now to be fair to the verse ancient Iran and Iraq have waged many wars against each other. One should also remember that the majority of the current borders were only recently drawn during the early 1900’s so what we think of Iraq and Iran may be much different than it was when Isaiah wrote such powerful words. Regardless it is a verse that is true today.
When I was in Yemen a couple of months ago there was a civil war going on. The war was in the North. My Yemeni interpreter was a devout Muslim and quick to say that he disagreed with Bush on just about everything except one thing. I asked him what the civil war was about. He was exasperated as he explained that it was a conflict caused by Iran who wanted to bring about a Shiite stronghold in the North. He went on to state that the Iranian agents had already forced all of the Jews leave who were peacefully living there as they had been for thousands of years. The Yemeni merchants consider the Jews to be the most skilled craftsman and silversmiths and make what are considered to be the best swords that are proudly worn on the belts of the Yemeni men. The one thing he agreed with Bush about was this: The US must not leave until Iraq is stable or Iran will try to take over all of Arabia.
The good news is that in the midst of all of the conflict all around the world the Creator of the universe is still on the throne and is ultimately in charge. What is happening here is no surprise to Him. “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.” Colossians 1:16 For some this verse may be confusing and may not seem like good news at all. The key is knowing the end of the story. We have been given the end of the story. It is found in Revelation chapters 19, 20, and 21. Read the book.
Solis Deo Gloria
More thoughts to come,
Duke
Posted by Tim at April 22, 2007 10:49 PM
