the wide way

Earlier this week was the first anniversary of the Simchat Torah Massacre in southern Israel and the resulting war in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.  Death and destruction all around.  It makes one wonder: where is God in all of this?

 God is with those who are the victims of warfare, what military planners might call "collateral damage."  David writes, The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18).  The Father causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45) ... not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  God is also with those on the sidelines who may be tempted to judge the actions of those involved, assuming that others are responsible for what is happening.  Jesus says wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it (Matthew 7:13).  The "many" includes us, you and me.

 This truth was illustrated to me in a church garden featuring a wide pathway, lined with stones carved with the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth.  At the end of the pathway were two pieces of granite, one a tall gray rectangle, the other a shorter version with a large brown ball of stone on its top.  Inscribed beneath were the Roman numerals IX-XI.  The sins of all of us, when pursued, lead to the kind of destruction we are witnessing today all around us in various forms, as well as that of yesterday when the Twin Towers fell on 9-11 and we as a nation entered an earlier quagmire of mutual destruction in the Middle East.

Let's resist the crowd of sin and join the few who enter the small gate of Jesus and walk on His narrow road of righteous love and active prayer, which leads to Life, not only for us but for all.