Denison Forum

Israel to Vote on Gaza Ceasefire as Leaders Fight for Credit on This Historic Deal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet today to vote on the Gaza ceasefire deal after Israeli and Hamas negotiators worked out their remaining differences. A wider cabinet vote to approve the deal is expected tomorrow. Mr. Netanyahu’s office expects the first hostages to be released on Sunday as planned.

President Biden says the framework largely mirrored a proposal he made last May. President-elect Trump also claimed a measure of credit for the breakthrough since he had repeatedly warned there would be “hell to pay” if a deal was not made by the time he takes office Monday. And a senior Biden administration official credited envoys from both Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden with working together to help negotiate the deal.

Fifteen months after Hamas’s October 7 invasion, their chief Yahya Sinwar is dead, Lebanon’s Hezbollah is decimated, Syria’s pro-Iran regime is overthrown, and Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance is shattered, all due to military actions. However, the ceasefire in the Gaza conflict is the result of political negotiations by government leaders, demonstrating their crucial role in world peace and our daily lives.

At the same time, as Dr. Ryan Denison noted yesterday, our ultimate hope is not in our elected officials, even as we pray for them (1 Timothy 2:1–2) and support their leadership (Romans 13:1–7). David, a warrior king famous for his battlefield triumphs (cf. 1 Samuel 18:7), nonetheless testified: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ our God” (Psalm 20:7).

In a time filled with perils and challenges, why should we follow his example?

“Now I Shall Feast on My Goods!”

I was reading recently in the Book of Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus), a Jewish work written in the second century before Christ. It is not included in most Protestant Bibles, and I do not consider it inspired Scripture, but I nonetheless found this observation noteworthy:

A person becomes rich through diligence and self-denial, and the reward allotted to him is this: when he says, “I have found rest, and now I shall feast on my goods!” he does not realize how time passes by; he will leave them to others and will die (Sirach 11:18–19 NRSV).

The author further warns: “In the day of prosperity, adversity is forgotten, and in the day of adversity, prosperity is not remembered” (v. 25).

The LA wildfires, now the most destructive in Southern California history, are an obvious example. As I noted earlier this week, church structures are not immune to disasters that are a consequence of our broken world (Romans 8:22). But amid the horrors, several pastors whose church buildings have been decimated have used the crisis as a platform to point to the Lord.

A statement by Rev. Bruce Freeman, an Episcopalian pastor whose church lost thirteen of its parish structures, especially struck me:

“If you believe God is in Jesus, then you’ve got to believe God suffers with us. That’s our hope, too. That’s what we hang on.”

Jesus suffered with us when he faced our temptations (Hebrews 4:15) and died on our cross (Isaiah 53:5). But do you really believe that “God suffers with us” still today? That the omnipotent Lord of the universe really feels your pain, doubts, and struggles right now? Why would the omnipotent King of the universe choose to do so?

The answer is vital to our hope and transforming for our lives.

“He rescued Me Because He Delighted in Me.”

You cannot love someone without feeling what they feel to the degree you are able. You cannot remain unmoved by their suffering or impervious to their tears. You will rejoice when they rejoice and weep when they weep (cf. Romans 12:15).

This, then, is why we can know that “God suffers with us”: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). We love imperfectly because we are imperfect people. Our love is so often conditional and limited. But God loves perfectly because he is perfect. His love is unconditional and unfailing, as David testified: “He rescued me because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19).

Our circumstances cannot change his character (Malachi 3:6). He weeps when we weep (John 11:35) and participates in our celebrations (cf. John 2:1–11). He chooses to feel all that we feel and then redeems all he allows (cf. Romans 8:28).

When we grasp this fact, we are moved to respond in kind: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

“I Am Wounded by Love”

St. Basil the Great (AD 330–79) wrote:

It is natural for us to want things that are good and pleasing to the eye. . . . In the same way, we love what is related to us or near to us, though we have not been taught to do so, and we spontaneously feel well disposed to our benefactors.

Basil is right: We learn to love as children as our natural response to our parents’ love. We learn to love our families and friends in the same way. It is easy to love those who love us and hard to love those who do not.

Now Basil makes his application:

What, I ask, is more wonderful than the beauty of God? What thought is more pleasing and wonderful than his majesty? What desire is as urgent and overpowering as the desire implanted by God in a soul that is completely purified of sin and cries out in its love: I am wounded by love? The radiance of divine beauty is altogether beyond the power of words to describe.

The next time you are tempted to “trust in chariots,” consider the cross. Remember the unspeakably sacrificial love displayed there for you. Believe that your Savior loves you as much right now as when he died for you. Respond to such grace in grateful love.

When you do, you’ll find yourself trusting the One who loves you so passionately. You’ll find yourself obeying his word because you know it must be best for you. You’ll find yourself sacrificing to serve others because of his sacrifice for you.

And the lives you touch can never be the same.