“I regret to inform you…”
The words I never wanted to see on the e-mail I had been anxiously waiting on.
“Fail”
A feeling of rejection washed over me as the monosyllabic word glared at me from the screen after I clicked “submit”.
“I’m sorry…you didn’t make the team.”
My daughter, crushed, from hearing those words, cried. I sat with her as she processed it.
“Our nation is under attack…”
The voicemail my father left on our voicemail on September 11, 2001 while I slept after a night shift.
“Israel is at war…”
The text my husband sent me two days ago while he was out and I was folding sheets at home.
It just takes a few words for your world to rock.
Shock sets in and after taking time to process it, you learn a few things.
Of those things, the most important: God is faithful.
Why does Israel matter to an American girl like me?
Because Israel is a nation that was promised to Abram…and to me.
Quick history lesson and then a few words on why this all matters to a non-Jewish girl like me.
In Genesis 12:1-3, God told Abram that he would become a great nation, that he would be blessed, and that all the peoples on the earth would be blessed through him.
In his book, Jerusalem, Jay Sekulow states the following: “This remarkable promise….marks the beginning of God’s close, intimate relationship with the ‘nation’ referred here. From this command to leave his home, Abram would go on to be the father of a great nation that has outlasted practically every other ancient civilization.”
By FAITH and OBEDIENCE, Abram left the country he knew and traveled to Canaan and God said to him there, “To your offspring I will give this land.” Genesis 12:7
In fact, when Abraham asked God how he would KNOW that he would inherit the land, God made a COVENANT with Abram by asking him to gather animals and dividing them. Then God Himself walked between the pieces of the animals and made an unbreakable covenant. “To your descendants I give this land…” (Genesis 15:18)
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, King Solomon, King David, Paul, Jesus.
Israel has not had a perfect past. There were cycles of disobedience and obedience. According to Sekulow, “their history has been a troubled one of dispersion, discrimination, and decimation.” However, “we can see echoes of God’s covenant with Abraham…”
Remember, this is an everlasting covenant. It is not finite. It is “an unending relationship between God and His chosen people, the Jews.” That means “modern Jews still remain in that covenant relationship with God…” (Jay Sekulow)
What was the purpose of the covenant, anyway?
It was “to make Israel a holy nation, setting it apart from all the others, and to bless other nations through it so that they might come to know God, his Laws, and how to follow Israel’s example.” (Jay Sekulow)
Paul, a Jew himself, said this about the people of Israel in Romans 9:4 , “Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.”
So what does that have to do with me?
I am not a Jew. I am a Gentile.
God, in his infinite mercy and grace, GRAFTED ME INTO THE PROMISE He gave to Abraham
Romans 11: 17: “But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. ”
In the tough, unspeakable tragedies of our lives, let us remember that GOD IS FAITHFUL.
I may have to say it 100 times to believe it, but GOD IS FAITHFUL.
Whether you are a Jew or Gentile, I ask that you pray for the peace of Israel as we are commanded in Psalm 122.
Israel, we love your people.
Israel, we pray for your peace.
Israel, we stand with you.
Israel, you have witnessed God’s faithfulness and you WILL see Him faithful.
Israel, you will rise.
~Elizabeth/Betsy
