world events

Battle Weary

Battle Weary

I feel battle-weary this week. It seems that no matter which way you turn, you get knocked down by another crisis. It is often in these times that we lose hope. We feel as if the situation will never resolve. Fear grips our world as we struggle through so many arguments, misunderstandings, outright attacks—the future seems grim and without hope.

This must have been true of every significant event in history. The point at which people wonder if it will ever be over, if our story will ever change. The people surviving the World War 1 and 2 with the Great Depression in the middle, aching to see the world free of conflict and just trying to feed families and keep people alive. The confusion of the Crusades in which people who claimed to be Christian pursued the demented idea that murdering people was the way to their salvation, while those who believed that Jesus loved and did not attack had to stand faithful to their people amidst the conflict. The persecution of Christians by Romans and the persecution of Christians today in China, India, so many other countries. And the division, death and suffering caused by evil in the world continues today. I can imagine that people in each of these dark places wondered if it would ever end, if God would ever rescue humanity out of such a mess that they had created.

He always does. He always sends help. Even if it’s not in the way or time we would choose, He moves in the suffering places to bring people freedom. You see, I think we often believe that death and suffering is the worst it can get, but separation from Him is actually worse. No, I don’t want anyone to be hurt, and neither does God. But can we push into the pain, realizing that there is a bigger picture to this—that sometimes pain is something that pushes us to compassion, to reaching out to others, to making a way ahead that otherwise would not be.