Honestly, this could get really bad
May God raise up peacemakers
There’s nothing to be gained from alarmism, and I know that. But even though I make no claims to be an expert on foreign policy, I think there’s a dangerous tendency for average Americans to downplay the significance and potential consequence of what is happening on the other side of the world right now. In fact, to take it a step further, I’m not sure you can argue that this current generation of Americans has ever dealt with an international crisis that has greater potential for turning into a widespread world catastrophe.
Some of you reading this lived through the tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and so I don’t intend to seem melodramatic in that last statement. I know that the situation, as serious as it is, does not amount to the same existential threat to the physical existence of our country and its people as occurred so frequently throughout the Cold War. But thinking from a global, Kingdom of God perspective, what is unfolding is extraordinarily serious.
First, it seems obvious that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated the growing impotence of the Western “free world.” The European Union has threatened the harshest economic sanctions it has ever imposed, promising “unprecedented isolation” of Russia. Yet Putin moves. Not only that, but in the halls of the United Nations, Western democracies railed against Russian aggression in lengthy and censuring diatribes…but how seriously can those statements be taken when the country installed to chair the hearings is Russia?
Second, the humanitarian concerns are devastating to consider. Military experts suggest that the number of displaced refugees could number as high as 5 million people when it’s all said and done. Who will care for them? Where will they go? Families who until yesterday were sending their kids to school on busses, and going to movies in the evening, are now homeless, and watching their community being reduced to rubble.
It’s unimaginable for many of us.
Hundreds of Ukrainian military personnel already lay dead, with the number guaranteed to rise. And though death tolls can have the same dulling effect on our senses as the mere recitation of statistics, this puts a heart-wrenching human face on exactly what is happening:
Pray for these poor people. Pray for peace.
And yes, of course, that includes praying for our own country’s leadership. I remember a common refrain during the Trump years was to hear the former president’s critics say that we needed to replace him quickly lest we end up in WWIII. Far from a political jab, it’s just a statement of fact that we did replace him and now find ourselves staring at what could be the precipice of WWIII.
For what it’s worth, I don’t believe that President Biden is truly the one running this, or virtually any, situation in D.C. Each successive day makes it more apparent that our president lacks the mental acuity to coherently articulate his own mind and administration’s policies, no less navigate the eccentricities of geo-politics.
But even though Biden’s foibles likely convey weakness and ineptitude to a hostile world, may that not deter us from lifting him, and the individuals or team of advisers that are really pulling his strings, up in prayer.
Because after all, even though the United States isn’t directly involved at this point, there is no guarantee an escalation won’t occur. Reports already indicate some ominous news for what could, God forbid, be coming.
In case you need a refresher, NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It’s a defensive military alliance that emerged post-WWII in an effort to protect smaller democratic nations in Europe from Soviet aggression. If a NATO state is attacked by a hostile foreign power, the United States is diplomatically at war. Pretending this situation couldn’t get out of hand very quickly is extraordinarily naïve.
For its part, Russia is sending mixed signals:
“It’s not a war, but it’s also the end of the war.” Again, pray for the leaders who will try to decipher the intentions, and evaluate the risks associated with the Russian regime. And pray for these people – the Christians…
The poor, the vulnerable, the image-bearers, those fleeing…
And those hiding…
In America we have been blessed immensely by so often being far-removed from the face of real conflict. Even watching it on TV or online has a distant, detached quality to it. But war is, and has always been, the vilest of things. It’s hell on earth.
May God raise up peacemakers to counter it.
ICYMI…
I preached this last week on the point of church. Especially post-COVID there’s a lingering question hanging over believers: why not just worship from home? Here’s one response to consider:
I also wrote these couple pieces you might appreciate:
Thanks, Pete. Knowing how to pray for this is hard. We pray for our brothers and sisters in peril, we pray for our military as they go and wait. We want this to end before it goes global. And yet, looking at it through the eyes of scripture, we know that these things will happen in the end days. I just never thought I would still be here to see it all get a start. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.