After four years of preparing for our daughter and her family to move in with us, it finally happened last Saturday. Since arriving, we had to take their youngest child by ambulance to the emergency room as she had become comatose from dehydration due to a stomach virus. We felt God’s presence and his favor every step of the way. What could have been a very traumatic situation turned out to be an amazing experience of touching the best of the Israeli heart. Keturah received the best of care and everyone went out of their way to be helpful. Words cannot express the lessons of trust we learned yesterday. Then, after returning home we were confronted with reality of the brewing war in Gaza, and had to apply what we learned about trust.
I woke up this morning with the sound of chirping birds welcoming the morning sun and I was reminded of the Scripture of admonishing us not to worry. The birds are never concerned about where their next meal will come from or whether there will be a place to live or even whether they will be safe. As humans we are “cursed” with the ability to worry but we are told that we are worth more than the birds of the air. If our Father takes care of them, won’t he take care of us? True peace is found not in the environment of no conflict but is found in the midst of the storm. Though there have been hundreds of rockets fired into Israel the last few days and we are on the verge of a major war, the birds woke up singing!
Last night we had our first experience of running into our bomb shelter. This happened right after we instructed our grandchildren about what to do if the sirens go off. Rarely do rockets reach Jerusalem but I sensed it was time to get ready. We showed them how strong the metal window closure was and how strong the door was. We made this as non-threatening as possible but one of our grand children became traumatized with fear after our foray into the safe room. He was so scared that he wanted to sleep in bed with his parents. He wasn’t content to just sleep on the floor next to them but wanted to be touching them in bed. That was his place of safety. When my daughter told me this I was in wonder of how just being close to his parents took away his fear and he was able to sleep peacefully! And then I thought about the spiritual parallel. Will we trust God and believe that he is right there with us every moment? We are commanded not to fear for he is with us. We must “snuggle up” to him in the Spirit for this is our place of safety. He is our strong tower, our fortress in which we dwell.
Trust was lost in the Garden of Eden and we live a lifetime working to get it back. Not just circumstances like accidents, natural disasters, being born into poverty, etc. that are beyond our control wound us, but people who break their promises, lie to us, or who physically and verbally abuse us, damage our “truster.” As we grow we learn that the world is a very dangerous place and our life is spent trying to make it a safer place through our own human powers. But the very thing we fear, being out of control (that is not being able to prevent pain), becomes not the real problem but the fear itself. Panic attacks and feelings of trauma are themselves feelings beyond our control, so we think, and are horrible emotions. The terror produces more terror as we spin out of control on the inside and even in our bodily reactions. But, we can be healed and set free from these fears that plague us. Our God is in control!
And now, the political/social world is falling apart before our eyes. Is there any thing left that can give us hope? Only a deep confidence in a loving and good God who is in ultimate control of the events on this planet can deliver us from this cycle of fear and mistrust and pain. The Bible is full of stories of men and women who were on different parts of this journey of learning to put their trust in God. I believe that when we grow in trust this brings glory and honor to God. It shows to the world what kind of good and loving Father is watching over us. He never promised us that we would not go through troubles, trials, tragedies and betrayals, but he has promised again and again that he would never leave us or abandon us. He admonishes us to not to be afraid as he is with us. Isaiah 43:2 says: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”
Last week I had another leap forward in my “truster” meter inside my heart. Lately I have become so fully aware of those areas in my life where I fall short in this area of trusting God or even trusting others. Two of the area I fight fear is in driving in Israel and being stuck in a situation where I cannot communicate in Hebrew when I am in a dangerous situation. On my way to pick up my daughter to take her to IKEA I was crying out to God once again to fix my “truster.” I am old enough to know that one of the dangerous prayers to pray is to ask God for patience or for the ability to love people. You know what happens when God answers these prayers…you got it. You get circumstances that require patience and people who are difficult to love. So why did I cry out to be able to trust God more? Maybe because I know that without faith it is impossible to please God and I wanted to bring him glory and honor on earth through my living in peace and rest in the midst of storms. You can tell where this story is going. On the way back from IKEA our van was beginning to ascend the famous Jerusalem hills and our car began to rapidly loose power. Now route 1 is under construction and there are no shoulders to pull off on. There are only a few emergency pull off bays. Cars were beginning to beep, drivers getting angry, as my car began to go slower and slower. Panic set in. Was I going to be one of those casualties that stop rush hour traffic for hours? But God was already moving on ahead and made a place for me in one of those pull offs on the side of the road just in the nick of time! As I waited there I was shaking in fear and my daughter Simcha had to make all the calls. She was at perfect peace and did an amazing job calming me down. She was even laughing as she saw into the Spirit what God was trying to do in my life.
What were we going to do? We were stuck in a hot car, no water, and the towing company said that they might be two hours, plus Simcha had to get back to pick up her children from nursery school. This is where the evidence of God already having things under his control began to manifest. First, Simcha was able to reach one of the workers at Revive Israel who for some reason was delayed from leaving the office. She was the only one available to dry the Revive car. A few minutes more and there would have been no one there. Plus the Revive office was less than two miles from where we broke down. As she was making preparations to leave we sensed we had to move out of the emergency bay to drive to the nearest intersection and gas station. There was no way we could be towed from where we were parking. Now, I had to face another fear…merging into Israeli traffic where there is not a merge lane, and counting on the graces of rush hour irate drivers. I had no idea if the car could even drive or if it would make it to the intersection but I knew I had to trust God and leave it in his hands. So, I started the car, put my blinker on, waited, stuck out my hand formed in an Israeli style circle, which means “wait,” until some kind Israeli stopped and let me out! I almost caused a multi-car pile up but God kept us safe and enabled us to make it to the gas station. Then, God came through again and made it possible for the tow truck to make it to us within 45 min., the worker from Revive came to pick Simcha up to take her to get her car so she could pick up her children, then Shelli came back to pick me up and take me home! Simcha was so proud of me, she said that I faced my fears and passed the test! Yes, I feel different now. It was kind of a deliverance experience. God DOES go on before us and he is with us through every trial!
Take courage, God has not left us here as orphans. He will never leave us or forsake us and we can shout the shout of victory even before we experience it. He has given us the comforter that dwells within us and all we have to do is to ask. In fact, he already has gone ahead and has provided a way through the storms. May I hold onto these truths in the days ahead as the storms around Israel are rising. Oh Israel, put your hope in God!