I SIT HERE at my computer in the "security" room of my apartment in Netanya, Israel. According to Israeli law, all apartments and buildings are required to have such a room. Though we do not need it today as a protection against small bombs, rockets, or small-arms fire, we wonder what the future will bring. During the recent war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, rooms like this became the full-time residence for people in northern Israel. Netanya remained out of range of the rockets this time, so today this room still serves only as my study, my music room, and my dressing room.
There is peace now, at this writing—but for how long? How disquieted, insecure, and fearful we Israelis are! And the people in Lebanon, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip who, too, are suffering so very much—how must they be feeling? Few of us in this region, or even in the world, see a peaceful way out of this conflict. This is truly a volatile situation, waiting only for the spark that will ignite it again—tomorrow—next month—next year. Our grandson and other grandsons, husbands, fathers—all reserve soldiers—will be called into battle again. We pray, "God where are You? We need You so! If You exist and are present with us, we beg You to prove it and to lift us, even all of humankind, out of this most threatening of situations."
What is the cause of this situation? When all is said and done, we will most likely come to the realization that it is because the human being has the belief that—to misquote a famous song "... we must do it our way." And we assert our human will because we have not truly opened our hearts to God. We do not really understand Him, His will, His Almightiness. The true human need here in the Middle East, as it is and always has been for all humankind, is to "seek unto their God" (Isa. 8:19).
