REFLECTION & SPIRITUALITY
Of War & the Divine — Where is God?
On April 6, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a statement in The New York Times — “This is just an attempt to hide the evidence and nothing more. But they will not succeed, because they killed a lot,” he quoted, referring to the Russian soldiers’ act of hiding the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers and citizens they have killed. This is a clear reminder to everyone of the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. A war that shocked the world was triggered by a small country’s hope to join hands with other nations through the Western defensive alliance NATO. Both countries have since launched an extensive attack for multiple, and changing, reasons that many have called unfounded.
Many other accusations, statements, allegations, and especially news articles are spreading like wildfire. And so do doubts in the divine. Like the flicker of a candle, the faith of many is being blown away by their questions about God as another wave of large-scale violence continues to ensue. “For if God truly exists, then violence and hostilities at the expense of innocent lives shouldn’t exist”. This, unfortunately, is no longer new, as it has been a point raised by agnostics for the longest time.
There is, however, a thought I have encountered before, and again from a friend who raised it during a conversion about the Russo-Ukrainian war. “If God truly exists, then He is not a good God as defined by many, for even He permitted war in the Bible.” While these did not personally bother me and cause me in any way to doubt God, it was different when you hear them from the victims of war. Videos, interviews, and documentation of Ukrainian refugees asking for prayers and even searching for God in their darkest hours would give anyone a different kind of nudge. It did with me. And here I am now… Trying to share my thoughts on the things I mentioned above and for what they’re worth — to answer questions I encountered about war and the divine through my reflections from multiple readings.
Let me start with a war we are witnesses to through our faith and the pages of the Bible — the war that God permitted.
A Holy War
War, indeed, is not something that the Holy Bible turns a blind eye to. In fact, as many of us already know, it tells of numerous accounts on its pages. Wars and battles involving the ancient provinces of Israel, Egypt, Babylon, and even cities are recorded in the Old Testament. It also tells of a Holy War — one that is fought by God’s divine command. The most known of them is the battle to take Canaan, or what was earlier introduced in the Bible as the Promised Land.
Initially, one would think and wonder how a God depicted as loving and forgiving could ever command his people to take another life as the Israelites were sent to destroy Canaan. But only by looking at the bigger picture do we truly understand its significance. The Holy Bible is very clear on how the Canaanites were misled and destroyed by their own wickedness before the arrival of the Israelites. And it also tells of how God casts out people from nations to be taken rather than letting them fall by the blade of its conquerors, as recorded in multiple passages. Therefore, most of the Canaanites fled, rather than killed, at the arrival of the Israelites. Even at the peak of their own wickedness, God gave them a chance to survive and build a second life outside of the lands they had stained.
Prior to the taking of the land, the Israelites were able to start their attack through the fall of the walls of Jericho. This was a result of the Israelites’ obedience and faith in God’s instructions. They marched around the city once every day for six days and seven times on the seventh day with the Ark of Covenant. What finally sent the walls crumbling under God’s might was the blow of a trumpet and a shout from the Israelites. Not by brutality, but by God’s fulfillment of his promise that the descendants of Abraham would enter Canaan.
The book of Genesis also confirms a part of God’s covenant with Abraham. It is a promise that the fourth generation of his descendants will take the Promised Land when the sin of its people has reached its full measure. And by taking it, the wickedness of the land was replaced by God’s holiness through His people. The Israelites’ victory also served as the final founding of their nation. The whole point of the war is not of bloodshed and hostility but of faith, repentance, and the birth of a nation that would soon prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ. It is to foster the growth of more lives to live with faith in the Lord.
In addition, far before the battle of Jericho, the Israelites suffered at the hands of the Egyptians. An ordeal that they faced after falling into sin in the eyes of the Lord time and time again. Their sins include “selling the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed”. The most sinful of it was serving the Baals and Asherah. Idolatry. Fully forgetting the God their forefathers served and turned to. The God that blessed their nation. And so, they were enslaved and cast out of their lands just the same as the Canaanites were.
This has been a common occurrence in the Old Testament. Where disobedience flourishes, God’s divine justice follows. Even after being saved from the bonds of Egypt, the Israelites returned to their pagan ways during Moses’ stay in Mount Sinai. And by the will of God, they traveled in the desert for another 40 years. Does it mean that God is an angry and punishing God? No. It means that God is a just God. No one person or nation takes a hold of God’s justice or favor.
As Moses has written in Deuteronomy 32:4, “The Rock! His work is perfect. For all His ways are just; He is a God of faithfulness and without injustice. Righteous and upright is He.”
And what of His grace and mercy?
In the battle of Jericho, there was a silver lining that goes deeper in meaning and reflection. Or rather, a red cord. This is one of the stories in the Bible where a sinner was chosen by grace. A story where a harlot became a heroine. It is the often overlooked but never forgotten story of Rahab. Rahab’s assistance to the two Israelite spies is what gave her a chance to be saved. With a promise of safety by hanging a red cord in her window, she was spared from the war. She chose the right path, and hearing that the Israelites were sent by God for a purpose, she chose to believe.
This reflects God’s grace and mercy in three ways from my musing and surely in many more from others’ reflections.
First, Rahab’s home was in the middle of the city, and yet none harmed her or her family because of the red cord. It symbolizes God’s protection in the middle of a crisis. That the light of God may come from within when all other directions seemed to have darkened. Second, Rahab is a prostitute. Someone who would usually be judged and shunned has played a pivotal role in the victory of the Israelites. A victory that served as a step for God’s Holiness to embrace the land. A victory not realized through the commands of righteous people, but through the choices and sacrifices made by imperfect believers. And third, Rahab is not just a sinner but also a constituent of a corrupt and pagan city. Someone doubted to be a hero of faith because of her hometown. And yet she is. Her actions saved her and her family, and she was also given a place in the lineage of Jesus as she was an ancestor of Christ’s earthly father, Joseph. All these are clear indications of God’s grace and mercy in the middle of a war and beyond it.
As Christians, we believe in God’s divine justice and purpose for the Holy War of the Promised Land. It does not mean, however, that we are to justify all other wars with a misled notion on such divinity. It simply means that we are witnesses by faith on the sacrifice of evil and wickedness for the Holiness of God to take over. And we are witnesses on the reality that God’s grace and mercy can exist in the most unlikely of places and people when all other paths go dark.
So, what of other wars? Unlike the Holy War, there are no books or passages that enlightens us of divine intervention in its instance. There are, however, history books, tabloids, and other sources that tells us of earthly interpositions in these wars. And it may not tell us what God’s purpose is, but it tells us of the will and sufferings of those who were involved.
Two Sides of One Coin
If not the will of God that a war occurs, then whose? This puts into perspective something which has been questioned for its existence — Freewill. It has been questioned as it is through freewill that many choose evil, violence, and destruction. This is also another reality that we need to face. Throughout history, wars were triggered by the selfish desires of leaders and those in power. For greed, money, and control. So why were we given such power of choice?
The question itself contains the answer.
Freewill is neither an ability nor a skill but a choice. For it is also by freewill that we choose kindness, compassion, and love. Freewill may be blamed for the occurrence of wars, but it is also through freewill that it can be prevented. But to humankind’s misfortune, many people in power chose war over peace. These are choices made that began a chain of sufferings.
A common prelude in the event of a war are the heartbreaking goodbyes. Households once filled with joy and laughter turn into the exact opposite. As soldiers leave their homes, the ones that are left cry in silence and fill their days with prayers. Hopeful for their soldiers’ return — safe in their arms. Faithful to the Lord that their prayers were heard. Even those who doesn’t believe in God find themselves looking up with a flutter of faith — all for the homecoming of their loved ones. And when one does not return and a telegram is received instead, it always cuts the deepest.
This is a pain shared by families regardless of the side they are on. The same can be said on the Russo-Ukrainian war. Both Russian and Ukrainian families grieve the loss of their beloved soldiers and citizens. To add to their grief, each death makes them hate the other side more. And to make matters more complicated, and for some a reason for doubt, in almost every war after the birth of Christianity, both sides believe in the same God. They both hope for the safety of their loved ones and for peace to overcome hatred.
How many fellowships and masses were conducted in war-involved countries to pray for the return of those in battle? How many soldiers pray for their safety only to be engaged in a shoot-out with those who prayed for the same? How many lives were lost praying to the same God, wanting the same peace, and hoping for the same chance to return to the warmth of their homes? And when the soldiers of both sides of a war believe that God’s protection embraces them, who does God protect? To whom do His grace fall on?
Unlike the Holy War where the Bible reveals His divine justice behind the conquering of the Promised Land, what might be a divine intervention kr reason behind the Russo-Ukrainian War? We may never fully understand why God allows wars. But there is one thing that we were taught and now teach to those who are younger than us — God is love. This does not directly answer all the questions above, but it does remind us of a reality we Christians live in. Evil is not the will of God. A truth we cannot deny is that all casualties of war is truly tragic, and no amount of comfort can heal the wounds that are left.
But just because there are questions we cannot answer, it does not mean that God does not exist or that God has forsaken us. It just means that we are human. Not even close to understanding the will and thoughts of God in a blink of an eye… or perhaps even in a million years. Our faith exists not only because of the things we know, but also because of what we choose to believe despite the things that we don’t know. Just as Rahab chose to believe, so should we when we are tested in our darkest hours.
This is something that is difficult to think of for those who have lost their loved ones because of war. Most victims cannot even begin to comprehend God’s purpose behind such deaths. It makes them feel like they have lost everything and understandably so. But if there is one thing we never lose, it’s the love of God and our salvation through Jesus Christ’ sacrifice on Calvary. Not just for us but for those who departed in the battlefield as well.
Where does this leave us? Like Thomas finally seeing Jesus and his wounds after his crucifixion, it leaves us on our knees.
The Bridge
They say that if wars can be started by lies, it can be stopped and ended with the truth. And the truth is we have the power to do so. To resolve conflicts with concord and create a world that fosters compassion and kindness. To fall on our knees and worship God through our humanity and as instruments of His peace. And as we continue helping and praying for the victims of war, or humbly and sincerely asking God’s wisdom to win the hearts of our leaders and amity to finally overcome violence, it shows the undeniable truth that we can put so much effort into building peace as much as creating weapons and training soldiers for war.
So, are we to live our lives by choosing evil or indifference over peace?
It may not be as simple as it is said, but it remains our choice to let God take the wheel of our lives and live in harmony. As the saying goes, “Let’s do our best and God will do the rest”. If we have the power to surrender ourselves to the Lord, we also have the power to live in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ. For indeed, the choices we make to act towards the devout values we uphold serves as an instrument towards ending all wars by the will of men.
Earlier in this reflection, I talked of God’s divine justice under the Holy War. That, however, is of the Old Testament. The New Testament, especially the Gospels, gave us a way to see and understand God through a different light. And it is through our Savior Jesus Christ. Whereby God is written to have promised His divine justice to disobedience and sin in the Old Testament, His promise is of grace and forgiveness for the same through His Son in the New Testament. Paul has written of such to the Romans, For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God, and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.
I still remember a teaching from the late pastor H. Peter Kuiper about the bridge of salvation. A cross that connects the land of the living to the gates of heaven. Of course, the cross is a symbol to the greatest sacrifice of all — that of Jesus Christ’s when he took our place to be crucified. Sometimes I wonder if the sacrifice of Jesus is the end of war against evil. For even the divine encompasses time as even those who are born after Christ’s crucifixion is saved from eternal death. And as John have written in his book the words of Jesus, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Through this, I believe that in all forms of war, there is already victory through Christ’s triumph on the cross.
Even when there are those who say that a world without war can never exist, the truth of our salvation and the teachings of the Gospel remain steadfast. So let us not live our lives in indifference to what we can contribute to this world we are born into, but in the light that has never stopped shining upon us even before we were born — the light of God’s love.
Words reminding us of our mission as Christians are being used in Anglican Churches to end their Holy Masses, allow me to borrow those words to end this reflection. “Let us go in peace and serve the Lord our God!”
2 Kings 17:5–17, Exodus 1–13, Genesis 15:16, Joshua 2, Joshua 6:1–27, John 20:24–29, John 16:33, Romans 3:23–24
