IN THE FACE OF RISING ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE WORLD, PRAY
IN THE FACE OF RISING ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE WORLD, PRAY
In a day when President Obama can call Prime Minister Netanyahu and pressure him to give in to Hamas, and make the same mistake he made in 2012, and anti-Semitism is breaking out with "Hitler was right", we need to PRAY.
How to pray?
Yeshua taught that we pray;
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven."
What is the "Kingdom' and "will" of "Our Father", the Almighty, the ONE, the Creator of the Universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Sovereign LORD who has "established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all"?
He said: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deut. 6:4-5) and "Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy" (Leviticus 19:2) and "love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD" Leviticus 19:18).
These are words spoken to His People, Israel; and we Christians believe that we are, according to the Apostle Paul's image, as "wild olive shoots", through the mysterious work of the Divine Vine-Dresser, "have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root". So, by virtue of this "in-grating", these words are spoken to us as well.
Throughout history, as seen in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Scriptures, then in history books and right through to today's Newspapers, these people of God have always needed to struggle to survive the wrath of surrounding nations.
And at its heart, this "wrath" has nothing to do with a nation as such.
It has everything to do with ridding the world of "the People of God".
Amalek is still as active and determined as he was when he attempted to prevent these people from even entering their Promised Land, and as he was when he attempted to exterminate them in Haman's day when the LORD saved them through the courage of Esther.
Today he goes by the name "Hamas"; although he has many other names, and as we see in Syria and Iraq, he does not much care, really, about exactly who the people are, so long as he can RAPE, TORTURE and KILL.
Perhaps it is time for this prayer:
"Do not keep silent, O God!
Do not hold Your peace,
And do not be still, O God!
2 For behold, Your enemies make a tumult;
And those who hate You have lifted up their head.
3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people,
And consulted together against Your sheltered ones.
4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,
That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
5 For they have consulted together with one consent;
They form a confederacy against You:
6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites;
Moab and the Hagrites;
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek;
Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assyria also has joined with them;
They have helped the children of Lot. Selah
9 Deal with them as with Midian,
As with Sisera,
As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon,
10 Who perished at En Dor,
Who became as refuse on the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb,
Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 Who said, “Let us take for ourselves
The pastures of God for a possession.”
13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust,
Like the chaff before the wind!
14 As the fire burns the woods,
And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
15 So pursue them with Your tempest,
And frighten them with Your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame,
That they may seek Your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be confounded and dismayed forever;
Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
18 That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord,
Are the Most High over all the earth."
Psalm 83.