From the Desk of Jeff King

Our eyes are upon You

The photo from the Jewish settlement Neve Dekalim screams desperation. MSNBC today published a Getty image of a young Jewish boy, wearing a tallit and kippah, trying to block Israeli policemen from advancing on homes, schools and synagogues.

Security forces clashed with hundreds of withdrawal opponents, hours before a midnight deadline for all Jewish settlers to leave Gaza Strip voluntarily or face forced removal. MSNBC reported that Palestinian militants marched through the streets of a southern Gaza town and vowed the Israeli withdrawal would be the first step toward eliminating Israel.

The boy in the photo stretches out his hands and pleads with an officer to stop. The man avoids eye contact. Another boy, facing the camera, looks traumatized. It is almost too painful to look at. I interrupted my writing sabbatical to share these few thoughts during D-Day, Disengagement Day. I am not Jewish, but my Messiah is, and He has not forsaken His covenant people. I hope the settlers remember the courageous prayer King Jehoshaphat lifted to heaven as invaders threatened Judah during biblical days (2 Chronicles 20:12):

O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.

Addendum –Israeli troops dragged weeping Jewish settlers from their communities as the forced Gaza evacuations proceeded Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. I am stunned that Israelis would turn against their own people: "Unarmed soldiers carried away worshippers wrapped in white prayer shawls. Wailing men ripped their shirts in a Jewish mourning ritual. Women in a synagogue pressed their faces against the curtain covering the Torah scroll. In Neve Dekalim, dozens of soldiers entered a Gaza yeshiva, or seminary, where settlers linked arms in a wide circle and swayed together in prayer. Soldiers formed a ring around the worshippers, but some troops, still wearing their flak jackets, joined them in prayer."

Addendum II – Whenever a nation tries to divide the land of Israel, judgment ensues (Joel 3:2). Could it be that the Bush administration provoked God's fury by pressuring Israel into displacing its citizens? A day after the last Gaza settlement was evacuated, a tropical depression formed near the Bahamas. Two days later it was upgraded to Hurricane Katrina. In the next 96 hours, the storm hit southeast Florida, increased in intensity over the Gulf of Mexico, then ravaged Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. It is the costliest weather-related disaster in U.S. history. The Mississippi governor called Katrina "a grievous blow."

America may have reaped what it sowed – our government pushed for the Gaza evacuations, which left Jewish families homeless and destitute. Now we have refugees on our own soil. Do you see the parallels? Israel ordered Jewish settlers to abandon their homes; America ordered citizens of flooded New Orleans to abandon their homes. Soldiers walked the streets to enforce evacuations in both Gaza and the Gulf Coast. God metes out justice measure for measure. And we learn from Job 37:11-13 that God can and does direct the weather for His sovereign purposes:

Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds, and they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, that they may do whatever He commands them on the face of the whole earth. He causes it to come whether for correction, or for His land, or for mercy.

Addendum III – This perspective from Minutemen United:

A year ago when hurricane Ivan was threatening New Orleans, many church leaders were crying out to the Lord for mercy, for salvation for New Orleans, for a turn from sin. At the last hour, Ivan tracked to the east and the "Big Easy" was spared. The name Ivan is Russian for John, and means "God is Gracious." A year later, after New Orleans refused to heed the warning of God, hurricane Katrina visited her wrath upon the city. What is little reported is that the storm hit on the eve of the nation's largest gathering ever of homosexuals and deviant sexual behavior in the city of New Orleans. Southern Decadence was to kick off on August 31 with the blessing of the leaders of the city. Long the cesspool of America, New Orleans was flooded by Katrina. It is interesting to note that Katrina is German for Katherine which means "purity or cleansing." There are no abortion clinics open in New Orleans today.

Posted by Jeff King at August 16, 2005 12:43 PM