"Have you ever noticed how many Psalms were written during wars?"
War and The Sovereignty of God
“War is a unique evil,” he shared as we sat across the table from each other at the restaurant. “But it provides unique opportunities for ministry.” Last night Teana and I, on behalf of Heritage, hosted a local Baptist pastor and his wife for supper. Oh, the stories he told of their family’s faith and persecution in the Soviet Gulag (Soviet death camps). “Every text I preach has new meaning,” he continued. “Have you ever noticed how many of the Psalms were written during wars?” It seems his maxim rings true. War does bring a unique perspective on many things, even on the Bible.
War is not as old as Heaven but it is at least as old as the earth. Lucifer brought his lost war in Heaven to earth in a last ditch bid to fulfill his failed desire to be like God (Isaiah 14:12-14). Yet even rebellious act proved to be to God’s glory.
In the Fall God demonstrates his sovereignty. There is only one God. Everything else is created, even the devil. We are not dualists, believing God and Satan are equals in a battle for the soul of humanity. Oh no. Satan is a pawn and the war, like a chess game, was over before the first move. To put it in Luther’s words, “He must win the battle,” doesn’t mean, “We hope he wins the battle.” It means, “He must win the battle because God can do nothing else but win.” That’s an aspect of his Godness.
Of course, this implies that God is sovereign over human war also. Just as he uses the Fall to display the glory of his redemption in Jesus, God uses war to demonstrate his loving kindness through the church. And this pastor and his congregation are doing just that with eleven new ministries to IDPs (Internationally Displaced People). “We are meeting people we would have otherwise never met,” he said. Like their ministry to women, some of whom are war-widows and are seen in this picture. (Picture used with permission).
Such a picture reminds us of the terrible human cost to war. But that too, is a result of our fallenness and the reason we need divine help. We are our own worst enemy. And the answer to what ails us is not on terra firma but extra-terrestrial, alien to us, literally from out-of-this-world.
Fortunately, that’s exactly who Jesus is. God incarnate, Immanuel, God with us. And the promise of God is a Savior who saves us in every way, a holistic salvation for you, me and the whole cosmos, now and forever.
So in whatever war you may presently find yourself, remember this true word from the only God who exists and the only God who has made every promise come true—this one too—“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
And then cry with every fiber of your battle-scarred being, “I believe!”
- Reggie Weems


