The Importance of Seeing the Big Picture
We love to sing and pray the words of Psalm 121:4: “He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” Did God fall asleep on 7 October? Has God forgotten or rejected Israel? The answer, of course, is ‘NO,’ and ‘NO.’ But if that is true, why did God allow this dreadful atrocity to happen?
We hear some Rabbis and Jewish commentators claiming the tribulation arising from 7 October is bringing renewal of profound significance, more about that later. The following article is an attempt to get a glimpse of the big picture. Firstly, the difficult and most controversial question.
Did God Allow or Cause 7 October?
It’s outside the scope of this article to elaborate on the permissive and causative will of God; suffice it to say they are very different. Firstly, let us have a look at what happened and what didn’t happen on 7 October 2023.
One of the things that has puzzled the world is why arguably the most sophisticated intelligence network on the planet was not aware of the magnitude, imminence, and calamitous potential of the horrendous attack that was planned. Surely, just negligence and complacency as explanations are not enough. Further, after the seriousness of the calamity became well known, what caused the profound fog of confusion to engulf the upper echelons of the IDF Command? This resulted in a huge delay of many hours before the army turned up at the scene in force.
How can we balance the scale of that enormous failure on the one hand, with the success of the targeted elimination of the Hezbollah leadership in a series of spectacular events that would be the envy of any James Bond scriptwriters, on the other? The truth is you can’t; there is no plausible natural explanation. If there is no natural explanation, there can only be a supernatural one. If God is in control of Israel’s history as we know He is, then we must come to the conclusion that God allowed this to happen.
So, Dare We Ask Why?
Joshua Berman, a blogger for the Times of Israel, had the courage to raise this question, and he pointed out:
“Strikingly… our religious response to our suffering puts us at a divide from those who preceded us. From the Bible through the Shtetl, (small towns) our forefathers believed that when collective calamity befalls us, we must stand before the Almighty in recognition of our failings—our sins. But there is very little talk of ‘sin’ as the cause of our current crisis, even within religious circles. At every stage of our history, our greatest texts have affirmed that collective calamity is caused by our own misdeeds. Every story in the Bible where Israel suffers, teaches this lesson… and yet we are uncomfortable thinking this way about our current crisis. For some, after the Shoah, (Holocaust) it is no longer possible to speak about Jewish suffering as the result of sin.”
Others take offense at the notion that God would allow the mass atrocities witnessed on 7 October.
Israel a Success Story
The stunning technological achievements of Israel in nearly all fields of human endeavor are seen in abundance. Their ingenuity has resulted in amazing material prosperity and the establishment of the most powerful army in the Middle East to protect it. Could it be that Israel, instead of using the rich attributes of God peculiar to His people to glorify His name, have confined their endeavors to one of purely secular Zionism? Has Israel become instead a secular citadel in the Middle East with Tel Aviv as its pride capital? God holds His people to a high standard as they are to be a ‘light to the Nations.’
Amid their current tribulation, it seems a time of refining has come, as proclaimed in Malachi 3, “so that the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord as in times gone by, as in the former years.”
This is exactly what is happening as thousands upon thousands are turning back to the Torah and to their God, our God, the God of Israel. The songs crying out for redemption are being heard in the streets, as multitudes cry out for deliverance. The theme song of the IDF is Psalm 121, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help.” The song Nechakey Lecha, “We will await for Thee” with the closing line, “Father deliver us,” is being played everywhere. The sale of tzitzits is going through the roof in the IDF; even secular soldiers who haven’t had a Bar Mitzvah are turning to God and putting on tefillin.
Out of Secular Zionism a Great Revival Will Take Place
Rabbi Jeremy Gimpel, reflecting on Israel’s current tribulation, affirms this observation. He recently said, and I quote, “Out of secular Zionism, the greatest revival that the world has ever seen will take place. What we are seeing now is just the first sparks of what will ignite a fire that will spread across the world.”
Let our prayers fan the flames that will lead to the great awakening for us all. I say for us all, for as I look at the sad state of the Western Church, the refining fire is our only hope for a new day. Always remember this: God’s refining fire of love transforms, not consumes.
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