Since the news broke that Hamas had brutally invaded Israel, killing over a thousand, and taking as many as 150 hostages, everything else outside my circle of family and friends seems small and petty in comparison. Does it really matter that the Speaker of the House of Representatives was defenestrated in a historic move to vacate? For once I am totally uninterested in the state of the Republican primary. On the stage of world events, this blots out the sun.
Especially heavy on my heart are the at least 100 hostages, including American citizens, who were taken to Gaza by Hamas. Hamas was intent on taking hostages because it knows how highly Israel values human life. They know Israel and America are willing to pay exorbitant sums to ransom captives. In Judaism, the concept of Redeeming the Captives, or Pidyon Shvuyim, is a mitzvah, or commandment. Examples in scripture include Abraham rescuing his nephew Lot and the other captives in Genesis 14, and Proverbs 24:11-12:
Rescue those who are being taken away to death,
And those who are staggering to the slaughter, Oh hold them back!
12 If you say, “See, we did not know this,”
Does He who weighs the hearts not consider it?
And does He who watches over your soul not know it?
And will He not repay a person according to his work?
As I think about the whole of God’s dealing with humanity, I’m struck by His tender heart for the captives. The concept of redemption is woven throughout the Scriptures and is the bedrock of our faith:
knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
1 Peter 1:18-19
When we were lost, separated from God, and under the power of Satan, He paid the ultimate price for our redemption.
But I can’t stop thinking about the hostages in Gaza. And I’m angry. It almost seems like the Psalms are finally making sense, when David called on the Lord to strike his enemies…
May God arise, may His enemies be scattered,
And may those who hate Him flee from His presence.
2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;
As wax melts before a fire,
So the wicked will perish before God.
3 But the righteous will be joyful; they will rejoice before God;
Yes, they will rejoice with gladness.
4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;
Exalt Him who rides through the deserts,
Whose name is the Lord, and be jubilant before Him.Psalm 68:1-4
I don’t know what the Lord is going to do in this situation. But I do know that when David was confronted with a hostage situation, he sought the Lord. Let’s do the same.
Then it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had carried out an attack on the Negev and on Ziklag, and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire; 2 and they took captive the women and all who were in it, from the small to the great, without killing anyone, and drove them off and went their way. 3 When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. 5 Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. 6 Also, David was in great distress because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David felt strengthened in the Lord his God.
7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 And David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this band of raiders? Will I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue everyone.” 9 So David left, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where some who were left behind stayed. 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor stayed behind…
16 Now when he had brought him down, behold, they were dispersed over all the land, eating and drinking and celebrating because of all the great plunder that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 And David slaughtered them from the twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. 18 So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives. 19 And nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, plunder, or anything that they had taken for themselves; David brought it all back.
1 Samuel 30:1-10,16-19
Please pray:
That Israel’s leaders would seek the Lord and would be guided by His wisdom as they seek to destroy Hamas and rescue the captives.
For supernatural protection over the hostages and Israeli civilians and soldiers in harm’s way.
That America would stand firm in support of Israel.
For the world to witness the Lord’s hand in all these events. He is mighty to save!
For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Jewish people as they witness the Salvation of the Lord.
Thanksgiving for Return from Captivity.
A Song of Ascents.
126 When the Lord brought back the captives of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us;
We are joyful.4 Restore our fortunes, Lord,
As the streams in the South.
5 Those who sow in tears shall harvest with joyful shouting.
6 One who goes here and there weeping, carrying his bag of seed,
Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.
My heart is breaking over the captives! Praying for them to be spared and returned home. By the way, I used to know a song to Psalm 126