I’m trying – I am really trying, to separate out my emotions, to keep a rein on my anger, to not let the pain burrowing into my chest override my mind as the news breaks upon us; as the faces of the three Jewish boys now known to be dead beam out from every screen, every website, everywhere I look…
I’m trying to detach my emotions from my convictions – so strong – of what I believe, I have believed for so long, must be done.
I wrote it like this to a friend – in the immediate shock of hearing:
What price their blood? It has been crying out from the ground since just hours after they were kidnapped – apparently all this time, while their parents have been expressing their unshaken faith and hope and trust – their boys were dead…all the intel gave the IDF the approximate whereabouts, but nothing apparently clued them into the fact that they had been murdered. Or maybe it just isn’t said until there is proof?
Murdered and mutilated (according to some reports) – horribly tortured before they died. No surprise here – this is the Arab way – barbaric. It’s why some Israelis tell their boys to always keep one bullet in hand.
“Now God” – I want to say through gritted teeth, in cold and heavy anger – “pull/drive – Israel into Gaza and crush, dismember, devastate the Hamas in all its forms. And imbue Benjamin Netanyahu with the calculated craftiness to draw on this to eviscerate Abbas and the PLO/PA.
I just so pray and hope the unity that manifested last night in Tel Aviv will stay bound together long enough to give the government the push it needs to deal the enemy a heavy blow. The sickness of the leftists will soon enough find reason to blame Israel and the settlerts etc for it …
How long, O LORD?!?
Yesterday morning I gathered our older children around the television in the lounge. We had been packing to leave on vacation tonight, our thoughts filled with the exhilarating prospect of the flight ahead, the coming adventures, the time we will be able to spend with grandparents who have not even met some of the little ones.
I stopped them in the midst of the packing and cleaning to show them the YouTube scenes from Sunday night’s rally in Tel Aviv, where tens of thousands of Israelis from all walks of life gathered together to call for the release of Gilad, Naftali, Eyal.
Yes, just a few hours earlier their devout and resolute parents had stood hope-filled before tens of thousands of their countrymen – settler and secular, agnostic and religious to ‘ultra-orthodox – their faces aglow in the rally lights as they articulated their appreciation, their faith, their trust in the Lord.
We watched a second clip – the mother of Naftali speaking in a synagogue Sunday, with deep feeling expressing her wonder at the way Jews (and non-Jews) had united in support of the three families.
She spoke of the “sweet, life-loving boys.” “We know,” she said, her voice breaking, “we know they are alive.”
That hope, that ‘knowledge,’ now lies in shreds, torn ragged by the intolerable news that came to their doors.
Right now these men and women are in their homes, surrounded by grieving family and friends, hearts shattered by the news that they will never hold their precious sons in their arms again.
Faith dealt a body blow? Trust – what, now, do they have to trust in?
Not in what. I know that they know that. Not in what but in Who?
In Him.
In their God.
What was it I said to my teens yesterday – yesterday before we knew that the boys were dead?
I told them that we could not be packing to leave on holiday disconnected from what was happening in the nation in which God planted us. I told them I believed the kidnapping of the three boys marked a turning point in the history of modern Israel.
“We cannot unplug from what is unfolding here,” I said. “This is an historic moment of enormous importance for the reborn Jewish nation. The impact of what has happened here will be deep and enduring.”
With the news of the murders I believe this even more.
In Israel, after today, nothing will be the same
Abba Father so sorry for the hatred and violence towards the innocents, by unrighteousness men…Abba vengeance belongs to You.
Thank you for teaching us Christians/Messianic’s to Love and pray for our enemies Father G-d. As it say in Mat 55:44
Thank you that You are LOVE and we must be more like You living in this falling world.
Shalom & Ahava to those who lost innocent blood.
My heart weeps for the parents of these precious boys and for the people of Israel. Father God, give them peace and comfort; let Your Will be done; vengenance is yours – and we wait, in trust, we wait. Help us, strengthen us, in the waiting.
How my heart goes out to those families. Since my three children had been in Israel recently and another earlier, I have been drawn to the goings on over there. May the God of our forefathers grant His Shalom upon these families.
Dear Father in heaven, bring you judgment to the wicked and bring it speedily, In Jesus name Amen!.
“Even so come quickly Lord Jesus ” Revelation 22:20
*I believe Hamas is trying to scare Israel out of the West Bank, We must never cease praying for the peace of Jerusalem, Psalm 122:6
I am so deeply grieved and feeling sick to my stomach since reading the headlines yesterday after the bodies of those boy’s were found.
Stan, your commentary made me weep, as I can feel your sorrow and anguish and I share in those feelings so deeply. I am torn up over this. The smiling faces of those three young boy’s have stayed with me since they were missing, and they will always stay with me.
I can not even imagine what their families are going through right now. After a month of clinging to hope, they are dealt a bitter cruel blow. They will never hold their child again…never see their smiling face again. “Ohh Lord, how much longer?”
I wake up this morning and read THIS news headline:
Obama Urges Israel Not to ‘Destabilize Situation’ After Hamas Murdered Teens
I knew that insensitive and lame headline was coming! And it infuriates me!!!!! I realize I am suppose to pray for our government leaders here in the USA, but I so totally loath them… it’s extremely difficult to pray at times!
Hamas has not taken responsibility for the kidnapping and killings; a Hamas spokesman was quoted warning on Monday night that “any Israeli response will open the gates of hell.”
Looks like the “gates of hell” have opened, and we christian’s in the USA who love Israel are praying for you Israel!
Lord how long will You delay? How long until You free Your people from fear and terror? I am trying so hard to pray for the men who have committed these atrocities, for God’s mercy and justice to be seen in the land but it is so hard. My prayers and heart go out to the parents of these poor boys.
All parents can identify with this horrific scenario- Lord sustain them and their siblings in their grief. Yes! we all ask Y’shua what can be done? He gives people everywhere free will, and sometimes that is the heinous way those created by Him act! It is truly unbelievable… “Precious in the eyes of The LORD are his saints…”
There are simply no words to describe both the grief and anger that are my emotions about the barbaric demons from hell who have butchered these 3 young sons of Israel. The time for any further ‘talking or negotiations’ is LONG past; it is now time for Israel to do what must be done to rid Herself of these filthy, vile and despicable demonic beings who call themselves by names given them to match their filth, i.e.: Hamas – Hezbollah – PLO. ALL of these ‘names’ perfectly describe the sewage that they come from and are. There is nothing about these butchers that in any way remotely resembles God or His Virtues. There is nothing about these butchers that in any way warrants anything but the DEATH they long for and for which they maim and murder. Israel needs every ounce of fervent prayer that all of us who KNOW The Word of The Most High God can and will pray on Her behalf. And, Israel needs to – MUST – totally clean out the cesspool that is now Gaza; and fully and finally ‘annex’ Judea and Samaria. And these butchers must be hunted down using every means available to the IDF. They will be hiding in holes somewhere like the vermin they are. I am sure that the IDF can and will find them; and grant them their jihadist desire of death. Only the death this time will be theirs – not the BELOVED ETERNAL COVENANT CHILDREN OF THE MOST HIGH GOD OF ISRAEL!
What a sad day! I pray for grace for these families as the grieve, and the people of Israel! Go in the strength of God!
Your heart is always evident in everything you write dear Stan, and it is a thing of beauty. Your Lord’s heart is also torn and He weeps. We weep together with you and Him.
Thanks for sharing, Stan.
When nothing is the same in Israel then nothing is the same in the world. Israel is the CENTER of the world. This is another tradgedy on top of countless others Israel has suffered and all Christians that love Israel can do is pray, and realize the horror of this. Many, many things we do not understand but God knows. This is spiritual warfare…PRAY!
Oh Stan, I can feel your anguish but in no way can I relate to what the parents of these boys must be going through. No parent should ever be dealt this blow….losing their beloved children. Yes, LORD HOW MUCH LONGER MUST WE WAIT FOR YOU TO ANSWER THE CRIES OF THE INNOCENT BLOOD THAT HAS BEEN SHED NEEDLESSLY? HOW LONG, LORD?
I have to wonder… why now? Where was the outrage when a settler family was murdered…even down to their infant? Does this just keep going on? Will there be only more threats? Slaps on the enemies’ wrists? I echo your heart: How Long, O Lord?? How Long? Right now, that’s all my heart can utter…