How would you like to walk in Benjamin Netanyahu’s shoes right now? That good man has enemies on all sides and is looking for friends to understand the peril he and his people are in. He is finding very few.
I, for one, want to stand up and be counted as a friend of Israel. That does not mean I am a war monger, an advocate for killing civilians and such, but I am a friend of Israel. Benjamin is making very tough decisions that only a good man with a good heart can make. I pray for ol’ Ben because he is in a rough spot few men could survive.
So, if I were Benjamin Netanyahu, I would spend much time in prayer to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That’s what Abe Lincoln did during the dark days of the American Civil war. Lincoln saw more bad than good in our civil strife over slavery, but still believed that preserving the Union was worth the blood spilled and the tears shed. Mr. Netanyahu too believes he must preserve his nation’s right to exist against those who want to destroy his people and remove them as a nation. My advice to Ben–spend much time on your knees!
Also, if I were Benjamin, I would believe in and embrace those folks who truly love and pray for Israel. By the way, most of those folks are not Jewish or Israeli; they are Bible believing, evangelical Christians, who believe that it was God’s providence that established a national homeland for Jews in 1948. We believe God gave them the land thousands of years ago, it is their “Promised Land.” This does not mean there are not Palestinian problems as they too have been dispersed. However, it does mean that Hamas is on the Devil’s side in this conflict and to seek to destroy God’s people is to set yourself up for failure. So Benjamin, if I were you, I would hug the neck of Christ followers who love Israel.
Finally, if I were Benjamin, I would resolve myself to the fact that there will NEVER be peace in Jerusalem until Israel’s redeemer Messiah returns to destroy those who oppose both the Gospel of Christ and the nation of Israel. He can resist, as he should, those who hate Israel. Like Joshua of old, he should fight to the death to defend Israel’s right to exist and live in peace. But there will be no peace until the Prince returns bringing His peace with Him. When that day comes, the prophet Zechariah’s words will be fulfilled,
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on Him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over Him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)
Benjamin, you are in my prayers, I would not like to be in your shoes!
