So y’all think God is sleeping?
Posted by Stan in Battle for the land, Israel and the Gentiles
Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35:3-4)
You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Behold your God!” (Isaiah 40:9)
Israelis lacking in faith were feeling a little shaky following an interview that US President Barack Obama gave to an American writer, and which was published overnight Sunday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was winging his way abroad.
Locally the statements made by Obama were seen as a warning directed at Israel’s leader: Blared the headlines in the Times of Israel (March 3, 2014) “For Netanyahu, a bombshell battering by Obama.”
I will not reproduce here the menacing rhetoric the American president (once regarded as the most powerful man in the world) employed in a transparent attempt to turn up the heat on Bibi. I will not quote it, and this article will not react to it.
Netanyahu, though, is ready for whatever reception he might receive at the White House. When he departed Ben Gurion Airport en route to Washington, the Israeli leader set his jaw as he spoke to the cameras at the foot of the gangway:
“In recent years the State of Israel has been under various pressures,” he said. “We have rejected them in the face of the unprecedented storm and unrest in the region and are maintaining stability and security.
“This is what has been and what will be.”
And as he left Israel, the organisation “Women for Israel’s Tomorrow” (WFIT) published an open letter with words of exhortation to strengthen the PM’s resolve.
“He Who turns the wheels of history has presented you with the challenge of your life at an optimum point in time,” it began, sounding reminiscent of the words Mordechai spoke to Esther.
Until now, the letter continued, the prime minister had “maneuvered wisely” through the shark-infested waters of US-led diplomacy vis-à-vis the Jewish state. Now Israel has reached a decisive moment, when it was possible “to strengthen our position.” A realistic “Zionist” alternative could be made to the US-pushed land-for-peace approach: Israel should extend its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
Conceding that such a course of action would not be easy, these women of faith were nonetheless sure that “the difficulties associated with sovereignty are preferable to the physical and spiritual destruction entailed in the establishment of a terrorist Palestinian state in the heart of our Land.”
It is quite certain that the overwhelming majority of people reading that letter would roll their eyebrows at the ‘naïveté’ of it all.
Benjamin Netanyahu, with all his astonishing accomplishments despite the realpolitik universe in which he has to operate, is in no way, shape or form going to act on that advice. Far, far too many currents are at work behind the scenes, currents “ordinary” people know nothing about. Indeed, as a former senior advisor to Netanyahu told me, deceptive diplomacy conceals an unimaginable amount of arm twisting, dark threats, manipulation, and blackmailing of Israeli leaders who pass through the doors of the Oval Office.
Oh, how very much we would want the prime minister to seize the initiative in this war for the security and existence of his people.
But we have no illusions here. Or let me personalize this: I have no illusions.
Over the years he has been in office, my observations of Prime Minister Netanyahu have led me to assess him as the best man for the job and, more importantly, that he was appointed to this position “for such a time as this.”
This does not at all mean that I expect him to be able, in and of himself, to find a way through the serpent’s looped coils,
Not to forget, either, the findings of a national poll published as Netanyahu was packing his suitcase for this trip, according to which 73 percent of Israelis would support the signing of an agreement with PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas. (The leftist press frequently crosses ethical lines to try influence the outcome on the political landscape here.)
But for the same reason that my faith in Israel’s future is not in this man, I do not fear the wily machinations of the officials who have been working around the clock to lay the snare into which they hope to have lured the Israeli. Nor are opinion polls causing me sleepless nights.
On top of that, does Ha’aretz journalist Chemi Shalev really think that people of faith are intimidated by the mocking way in which he sought to pre-empt an assessment of the kind I am making here?
God is fighting for Israel. And as the good Book says: He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
In His world, and thus in mine, coincidences don’t exist – especially when it comes to the fate of the Jewish people and their land.
Whether through political upheavals and global threats of war, such as the one being witnessed in the Ukraine, by weather systems, like those today smothering Washington DC, or by vainglorious distractions like Sunday night’s Oscar Awards, or in any one of numerous other ways – there is no doubt Who sits on the throne.
And there is no doubting His power.
Or do we really think that He is going to let the Obama administration get away with rolling back the miraculous restoration of the Jews to their land that He has been overseeing now for more than 150 years?
Millennia ago, when the Israelites were standing shaking in fear on the shores of the Red Sea as Pharaoh his chariots and his horsemen raced furiously towards them, a strong voice – filled with unreasonable and unshakeable faith – called reassuringly to them:
“Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.” (Exodus 14:13)
In this way we who believe in the God of Israel can encourage His people today.
“Don’t fear or be anxious, Israel. Just stand and watch Him at work. He is your God, mighty to save.”
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