Our daughter was a bridesmaid for a friend’s wedding in Lebanon last August. From the moment her plane left Vancouver until her return, my husband and I prayed for her safety because bombs and missiles from Israel could not distinguish fighters from innocent civilians. While many in Lebanon tried to leave the war zone when bombings intensified, we learned of Lebanese who returned to Beirut to work with the Red Cross for those injured or homeless from the bombings.
The misery of war comes on top of the ravages of climate change. Like Isaiah’s prediction of the devastation of the earth, all shall suffer. However, as the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) showed, poor nations suffer the greater burden of the consequences of the developed nations’ pollution of the earth.
Isaiah warned of disasters to come when the earth’s inhabitants did not treasure God’s creation. Sadly, forest fires, floods and the ever-rising sea level in recent years have shown that disasters have already arrived.
As we see our poor neighbours losing their crops and homes, do we flee to higher and cooler ground or do we reach out to them? Or both?
Merciful God, open our eyes to our neighbours’ suffering. Amen. —