Psalm 91: 1-10 He who dwells in the secret place of the
Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the
Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the
perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His
wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies
by day, Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the
destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Only
with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. Because
you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling
place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your
dwelling;
As the war continues in Israel, much has been made of the success
of the Iron Dome defense system which shoots down incoming rockets from the
Gaza Strip. While we are very thankful for the protection this system
affords, it does present a certain public relations challenge for Israel.
Somehow, regardless of the differences in both size and intention between
Israel and the Arab world, the global media frequently emphasizes what they
call, “moral equivalency”. The perception of Israel's military
strength and technical superiority somehow makes her the aggressor with an
unfair advantage.
Yet, an important "moral" difference often goes unrecognized.
Israel, as a fixed policy, goes to extraordinary lengths to reduce the
number of civilian causalities resulting from defensive attacks on
Palestinian rocket installations. But these installations are often
purposely placed in vulnerable civilian locations by Palestinian militants,
intentionally placing their own citizens in mortal danger from Israeli
strikes on missile targets. The media fails to report Israel's regular
policy of alerting Palestinian citizens to evacuate when an attack is
imminent by dropping leaflets, making cell phone calls, and sending text
messages. Why is that?
As Israeli President Shimon Peres said, "Those who preach to us
morality should offer an alternative way to stop the rocket fire from
Hamas." The Palestinian religious/military culture, which celebrates death
and murder in the service of God, is seen as "morally equivalent" to
Israel's self-defensive posture which does everything possible to protect
life. Might it be that Israel's persistent efforts to protect the lives of
both its own citizens and those of its enemy at least in part, underlies
the differences in the number of casualties on both sides? An enemy which
promotes itself as a victim and capitalizes on the death of its people is
certain to draw the sympathy of those who are just looking at the numbers
of dead and wounded. But is this "moral equivalency"?
Psalm 91 powerfully expresses YHWH's protection of His people who
choose to dwell in His shelter. People who love and protect life as part of
their faith tradition have certain promises in these words. We are not
saying that Israel is a totally righteous nation which never does anything
wrong toward the Palestinians. Yet we do believe that part of our divine
protection derives from the commitment to value and protect human life.
This psalm describes the extent of that protection.
It is a protection promised all the more to those who truly walk by
faith in the righteousness of Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). "A thousand may fall
at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come
near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the
wicked."
Abide in the
secret place of the Most High – rest there. He is your refuge and your
fortress, and walking in His righteousness will be your own "Iron Dome",
but better. Now, at this season for thankfulness we can all express our
gratitude to Him for both---the temporal, and the eternal safety He has
provided us.(George, Baht Rivka, Elianna & Obadiah)
No comments:
Post a Comment