Praying in Time of War

by Kenneth Ryland

How does one know what to pray about in a war? I have been asking myself that question a lot lately. America's involvement in the war in Afghanistan since the terrorist attack against the World Trade Center's twin towers on September 11 has left many Christians wondering what their response should be. How should we react to the attack and subsequent military hostilities halfway around the world? What should we pray for?

To be sure, many lives are at stake; many have already been lost. Are Christians obligated to seek to preserve the lives of those who would, without hesitation or remorse, snuff out the lives of others who do not share their religious convictions? Are we to sit idly by, praying nothing and doing nothing, while the guilty destroy the innocent? I think the Bible is very clear that we must not allow that to happen. "Because justice is slow, men's hearts are set in them to do evil," and "save those who are being drawn away to death" (Ecclesiastes 8:9 & Proverbs 24:10-12). Furthermore, if we sit idly by while evil runs amuck, we are encouraging evil and enpowering the worst kind of injustice imaginable. God's Word tells us that we are obligated to defend those who are weak and unable to defend themselves against the will of the perverse and the strong.

Some will argue that the people who were killed on September 11 were not "innocent." In the ultimate sense, that is, from God's perspective, I would have to agree with that. Who among us is innocent? Yet, even God Himself makes distinctions. He makes it clear through the apostle Paul in Romans 13 that He expects secular governments to punish crime. Governments are supposed to be "God's servants," and agents "to bring wrath on wrongdoers" (v. 4). He also states clearly that Christians are to "remember the poor," and defend widows and orphans (Isaiah 1:7, 10:12; Zechariah 7:10; James 1:27, etc.). How many children were left orphaned by the attack of September 11? How many wives and husbands suddenly became widows and widowers because of this barbarous act? Are we to look the other way because the vast majority of those killed were "sinners?"

We are to be salt and light in our society. That has to mean that we are obligated to be visible, as the representatives of Christ within society, and that we add flavor to the societal stew. That also has to mean that we do not withdraw our influence--which is felt in society through our prayers and our actions--in the midst of a crisis such as the one we are experiencing.

So, how would you pray in the midst of a war? I have some suggestions. Perhaps you have others. First and foremost, we must remember that the world is dying and that the only "elixir" for this dying world is the gospel, because the gospel is lifegiving. One of the most oppressive regions of the entire world--one that has been shut up against the gospel for many years--has been Central Asia, that is, Afghanistan and most of the surrounding countries. The knowledge of Christ that would liberate people in that region of the world has been very unwelcome. However, with the overthrow of the forces of oppression in Afghanistan and the effects of that overthrow on the surrounding countries, there is at last hope that a window of opportunity is opening for the words of eternal life to flow into that region. That, my friends, is more than worth praying about. Pray that President Bush and the armies of the U.S. and its allies will be instruments in God's hands to open that entire region of the world to the lifesaving message of Christ.

Pray also that the U.S. forces will be dignified representatives of the One True God so that the world will not scoff at God because of our misbehavior. After all, there are many Muslims in the world who consider the U.S. to be the representative of Christianity in this world. To them this war is about which God is the true god--the God of Israel or Allah. In the minds of these Muslims and in many Muslim writings, Christians and Jews are referred to as the "covenant people" and must be brought into submission to Allah or die.

The world is groaning in travail, waiting for the revealing of the sons of the One True God; that means us, brothers and sisters. Let us remember what our Father's business is and be about it.

--Kenneth Ryland

TSS

January - February 2002 The Sabbath Sentinel