Higher Than Me

“The roads to Zion mourn…” – Lamentations 1:4

7th October

On the morning of 7th October, I was flying home to Israel with my family after a holiday in Cyprus. My mind was full of lists and plans for the coming days.

We landed at Ben Gurion airport just before 7am, collected our luggage and boarded the shuttle bus to take us to our car.

As we got off the bus and started walking across the carpark, we were stopped in our tracks by the sound of a siren, warning us of incoming rockets.

Neither Colin nor I could remember what we were supposed to do if we were in the middle of an open space when a siren went off, so we got into the car and waited. We later learnt that this was the wrong thing to do. We should have lain down on the floor for 10 minutes, covering our heads with our hands. I’m really quite glad that we didn’t because the children would have found this even more traumatic than the siren itself.

It was only after the siren had stopped and we started driving home that I turned on my phone and began to realize the horrors that were unfolding on the Gaza border.

The Impact

Now, nearly eight months later, I look back on 7th October as the day when a seismic crack opened up in the ground beneath my feet, and I stepped out of one reality and into another. For the nation of Israel, 7th October marked a turning point in history.

Most traumatic events take time – sometimes a very long time – to process. We don’t understand straight away how far the ground has shifted, or the full scale of the impact.

The picture of what Israel post-October 7th is going to look like will take time to come into focus. But there are some things that are already beginning to become clear.

The Trauma Journey

Two years ago, I made a short video called “Israel and the Theology of Trauma.” Watching it again now, its words feel prophetic.

Israel post-October 7th is a nation in trauma. No one is unaffected in one way or another by the horrific events that happened on that day or the brutal war that has followed.

Really, the whole journey of Israel and the Jewish people throughout history has been a journey through trauma. In a profound way, Israel’s greatest blessing to the world – if the world is willing to see and hear – lies within this very passage from grief to hope, from devastation to new life.

The Lenses

Many believers in the nations who support Israel don’t understand the significance of the Jewish journey from trauma to new life, and therefore fail to fully understand how God is moving in the land and among its people. They look at Israel through various different lenses, all of which give a slightly distorted picture.

The End-Times Lens

Believers sometimes look at Israel through a purely end-times lens. Here, Israel and the Jewish people are seen as something akin to chess pieces in the final stages of a game. Before the Lord’s return, the Jews must return to the land of Israel and be saved. Then the Battle of Armageddon will happen, where all the nations will come against Israel. This final battle will usher in the Lord’s return and His millennial reign.

While there may be some biblical support for this position, when it’s taken out of context it dehumanises the Jewish people.

When I see posts by Gentile Christians on the other side of the world, at a safe distance from Israel, giving their opinions on the war and how everything is lining up for Armageddon, but failing to mention the pain that Jewish and Arab people are in right now, I am left cold.

Seeing the Jews simply in terms of where they fit into Christian eschatology is a callous disregard for their humanity.

The “Bless Israel” Lens

Another lens that Christians sometimes view Israel through is the lens of “bless Israel and you will be blessed.”

Believers sometimes base their whole understanding of Israel on this idea from Genesis 12:3. The belief that any blessing bestowed upon Israel will bring divine rewards has given rise to Christian organizations and individuals pouring funds into Israel, expecting God’s blessings in return. Too often, the funds are channeled into Orthodox Jewish groups that actually oppose the very message of the Gospel.

While it’s true that the Bible speaks of blessing Israel, the relationship between Israel and the nations is far deeper and more nuanced than just this.

Without understanding God’s wider purposes for Israel, the idea of “bless Israel and you will be blessed” reduces the Jewish people to little more than a lucrative investment fund with divine dividends.

The Persecution Lens

Then there’s the lens of persecution. Here, the story of Israel and the Jewish people is seen in terms of war, terrorism, anti-Semitism, and displacement. In an epic battle between good and evil, Israel is presented as a righteous and moral nation, unfairly victimized, and contending against hatred and lies.

Through this lens, Christians often see their own role as protectors of the Jewish people. They position themselves to provide refuge for Jews in anticipation of future persecution and seek to defend the righteousness of Israel’s cause before her many critics.

As an Israeli citizen, I am deeply grateful to believers in the nations who understand the reality of anti-Semitism and are not afraid to speak out truth amidst the tidal wave of lies and distortions.

However, the persecution lens doesn’t give a full picture of Israel or the Jewish people. While there’s some truth in it, it’s not completely accurate, and in certain ways, it may even harm the Jewish cause.

No one is Righteous

One of my concerns about the persecution lens is that it encourages a romanticised, rather than a realistic view of Israel.

God never said that Israel was more righteous than any other nation. In fact, quite the opposite. In Deuteronomy 9:6, God said:

“Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

God didn’t promise to restore the Jewish people to the land of Israel or pour out blessings upon them as a reward for good behaviour. Instead, the book of Ezekiel says that the restoration of Israel will be a sign to the world of God’s goodness and grace specifically because the people of Israel don’t deserve it.

“Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

Ezekiel 36:36

At a time like this when outrageous lies are being spoken about Israel with serious consequences for Israel’s national security and the safety of Jewish people around the world, it’s important for those who know the truth to have the courage to speak out.

But there’s a big difference between defending Israel against lies and false accusations and feeling the need to explain away the times she really does make mistakes.

A Statue Made of Glass

When Christians argue that Israel is inherently more righteous and moral than other nations, they’re erecting a statue made of glass. This just provokes Israel’s critics to try throwing stones.

When Israel fails to meet the impossibly high standards that her friends have set for her, the glass statue shatters. The romanticised image of Israel is proven false, and onlookers doubt whether the real nation has any legitimacy at all.

Some of the people who have done the greatest damage to Israel and the Jewish people over the centuries have been those who started off with a romanticised picture, but then became disillusioned with the reality.

Martin Luther, architect of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, had a powerful revelation of God’s purposes for Israel when he began to study his Bible. With great energy and enthusiasm, he set about trying to reach the Jewish people with the good news of the Gospel. However, when they didn’t respond to his advances with equal enthusiasm, Luther became cynical and angry.

In the latter years of his life, Martin Luther became a raging anti-Semite, publishing papers on the vileness and depravity of the Jewish race. Centuries later, these papers were used by Adolf Hitler as a justification for the Holocaust.

In modern times, some of the Christian preachers with the strongest anti-Israel views started out as Christian Zionists before discovering that Israel wasn’t as righteous as they once thought.

A Sinful Nation in Need of Mercy

Just like any other nation in the world, Israel is sinful. Along with all of its good and admirable qualities, the country has many flaws.

Within Israel, there are deep divisions along religious, racial, political and many other lines. The prime minister of Israel is currently facing a criminal trial for corruption. There are disagreements within the government about how to conduct the war. The fact that the 7th October terrorist attacks happened in the first place points to major failings in Israel’s security and intelligence. It is likely that pride and egotism played a role in these failings.

What’s more, I believe that some of the cracks in Israeli society may become even deeper as the trauma of 7th October and the war catches up with us all.

One of the issues that particularly concerns me is the loosening of gun control laws. Following the 7th October attacks, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, relaxed the restrictions on firearm licensing – a move that saw hundreds of thousands of Israelis submitting applications for gun licenses. A few weeks ago, Ben Gvir celebrated the fact that 100,000 new firearm licenses had been issued since 7th October. Ben Gvir said that all these guns made Israel a safer place. I’m not so sure.

Giving a traumatized population easy access to firearms and removing some of the safety checks in place doesn’t seem like wisdom to me. Domestic violence groups across the land are already raising concerns about the influx of calls they are receiving from abused women, terrified that their partners now have a gun.

Israel is inherently no more righteous than any other nation. Israeli people are not cleansed and sanctified simply because they live within the borders of the Holy Land.

Those who genuinely care about the nation of Israel and her people must be prepared to see her just the way she is with all of her strengths and all of her weaknesses.

The Trauma-Resurrection Lens

When we think of trauma, we instinctively think of a negative and destructive force. We have all seen or heard of traumatic events that have derailed individual lives, and even whole populations.

But sometimes trauma can also be a force for a good.

Trauma lies at the heart of the Gospel message. Jesus’ brutal and unjust death on the cross changed the course of world history and made a way for sinful human beings to come into a relationship with the Father.

Without death, there is no resurrection.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”

John 12:24

When we look back over our own lives, many of us see the traumas that we have passed through as turning points. Sometimes these are negative turning points that set us on a downward spiral. Other times, they are catalysts for positive change.

Going through a traumatic event can give us a clearer view of what really matters in life. It can bring estranged families back together and cause people to return to God. Our own traumas can also give us a deeper sense of compassion for others who are suffering.

Living in Israel, the effects of trauma – both positive and negative – are all around. Many people in the land – possibly even most – are first or second generation survivors of some significant trauma.

I have seen the bitterness that stems from unprocessed trauma. People with buried wounds from wars, terrorism, persecution, and other causes can become inward-looking and angry. Unprocessed trauma can make people rigid and inflexible, detached from their own emotions. Traumatized people are more likely than others to espouse extreme or racist ideologies as an unconscious attempt to bring order to their chaotic inner worlds.

But I have also had the honour of meeting Israeli people who have been through unthinkable traumas and discovered “the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places” (Isaiah 45:3).

Many of the people I know who exude the greatest sense of hope, life, and confidence are those who are intimately acquainted with grief. This is resurrection power. It is the deep sense of assurance and strength that can only be found on the other side of suffering.

It takes great courage to look our own traumas squarely in the eyes, to acknowledge their impact and to allow ourselves to grieve. Processing trauma often involves working through intense and frightening emotions that can leave us feeling just as confused and powerless as we did during the original event.

But if we persevere with the process, if we allow the tears to flow and make space for our own strong emotions, even if we feel like the journey is leading us to the very bottom of the ocean, in the end we will find that there are riches hidden beneath the seabed. After the fire has burnt so fiercely that we feel like everything we have is going be consumed, we will discover that there really is “beauty for ashes” (Isaiah 61:3).

In Isaiah 43, God promised the nation of Israel:

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

Isaiah 43:2-3

God did not promise Israel that He would lead her on a different path to bypass the rivers and fires. He told her from the very beginning that the road would take her through raging waters and scorching flames. But He also promised that He would be with her throughout the trauma. He promised that Israel would be refined and transformed by the fire and that others would look on and behold the glory of the Holy One of Israel in her midst.

How can Christians around the world pray for Israel at this time?

As the people of Israel begin to process the horrors that were unleashed on 7th October and the costly war that has followed, Christians around the world can pray that their trauma will be transformed into a force for good. They can pray that the people of Israel – Jews and Arabs alike – will be able to express and release their grief, and that it will not remain trapped inside their souls as anger, bitterness and depression.

Christians can also pray for the people of Gaza. Gaza is a region with a long history of conflict and turmoil, reaching back much further than the establishment of the modern state of Israel. Its population is deeply traumatized and the people are encouraged to channel their pain into a ferocious rage against Israel. We need to pray for this cycle to be broken, especially that the children living now in the horror of war-torn Gaza will have the vision to seek out a different path forward.

Finally, Christians can pray that Israel will truly become a light to the world. That her people will find safety and comfort in the arms of the God of Israel and the Jewish Messiah who went to the grave and rose again. Pray that this resurrection power will shine out in the Middle East, that treasures will emerge from the darkness, and that Israel’s journey from trauma to new life will bring hope and inspiration to the world.