War fills the headlines. For some reason the current story has my attention more than other recent wars. Having grown up in Europe, I remember the devastation in the aftermath of the last great war there. As a boy I walked with my family through checkpoint Charlie in Berlin and saw the oppressive conditions in East Germany. My memory is that on the free side of the wall the world was colorful and bright. But when we crossed over the screen returned to “black and white.” In a museum I saw the stories of those who risked their lives to escape and find freedom.
My dad was a soldier. He served our country faithfully for twenty-seven plus years. I remember when he went away to war in Southeast Asia. It was a long and hard year for our family. We missed him terribly for the year he was gone. Maybe this is why I think so much about the children who have been uprooted in the current crisis. Many have died. I do not believe that it was just “their time” to die. Those who harmed them will answer for their actions.
God’s people found themselves at war as well when they came to the promised land. After they escaped slavery in Egypt, they returned to the land God had promised them. Moses prepared them for the conflict. God was with them and would fight for them. They didn’t defeat Jericho with military might, but with supernatural power. Still, the description of warfare is stark to me. It is hard to read. His words are for that people at that time. I do not interpret them as license for Christians to go to war with others today. Philosophers and theologians debate whether war is ever justified. Is there a “just” war? Augustine thought there was.
Jesus came to the world preaching peace. He spoke words of comfort to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives” (John 14:27). Later Paul told the Ephesians that Christ himself is our peace having broken down the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14). Someday Jesus will return and war will stop. John writes, “God himself will be with them and be their God. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4). Doesn’t your heart long for that day? Mine does. Let us pray for peace, seek it and pursue it today.
