I write these words from the heart of Jerusalem one day after praying at the Wailing Wall (simply known as the Kotel – the Wall – in Hebrew). I prayed side-by-side with thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews during the culmination of Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) on the Hebrew calendar.
I cannot describe what a deeply moving experience this was, as my heart aches to see these deeply devoted men, women, and children—my brothers and sisters after the flesh—come to know Yeshua, their Messiah.
Today, I had another moving experience, but of a very different kind…Somberly, I visited the site of the Nova Music Festival where hundreds of Israelis were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists on October 7. For each victim there is a photo—a picture of when they were so full of life.
As you walk through this sea of images, you are overwhelmed with sorrow and pain.
After this moving visit, I was brought to a field stacked with hundreds of burnt cars, including an ambulance in which 13 Israelis were murdered—burned alive. Next to these stacks of vehicles were rows of cars pierced with bullets. To look at this was to see the rage and hatred of Satan.
To look at this was to see the terrible suffering of the people of Israel, yet again. To look at this was to see death and destruction, with some victims literally incinerated, burned to ashes.
Yet as impossible as it seems, we serve a God who brings beauty out of ashes and resurrection out of crucifixion. Only the Lord can do this! Out of the monstrous evil of the Holocaust, the modern State of Israel was born, and out of the murder of the Son of God, salvation has come to hundreds of millions worldwide.
This does not lessen the agony of the loss or the devastation of the moment. Those who were slaughtered by the Nazis or butchered by Hamas are gone from this world, and the hole they have left in their families and friends can never be filled. Human beings are not replaceable.
And yet there is hope—hope that light can come out of darkness, that hope can come out of despair, that life can come out of death. Our God is a redeemer!
Look at this beautiful passage from Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” (Isaiah 61:1–4)
The real wonder of all this is that very often, we cannot experience the good without going through the bad—there can be no resurrection without death—and many times, the worst experiences become the best things that ever happened to us.
God is the great redeemer, and what society or circumstances or Satan mean for evil God can cause to turn out for greater good.
Speaking of his harsh imprisonment, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “I nourished my soul there, and I say without hesitation, ‘Bless you prison, for having been in my life!’” The late NFL player Darryl Stingley was crippled by a vicious hit in a pre-season game, but later, from his wheelchair, said, “I think as a result . . . I’ve gotten more out of life, particularly on an emotional level. . . . And as a result I feel like my life is much more fulfilled.”
And that’s why I write these words to you from Jerusalem, not simply to draw attention to the suffering of my people Israel but also to say to each of you who are in pain or who have suffered loss: Your story is not yet finished!
Where there is breath there is hope, and the Lord can bestow on you “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” You can rejoice again!
You can be called “a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor,” and you can witness the rebuilding of the ruins of your life and the restoration of everything that has been devastated—from health to finances and from relationships to ministries.
The key is to refuse to throw in the towel, to refuse to let Satan or circumstances or sin or the world have the final word, to refuse to let your story end in despair or hopelessness or guilt.
I’m praying for you as I write these words that hope would spring alive in your heart, that the flicker of fresh vision would become a flame, that, as you abandon yourself to the Lord and cast everything on Him, He would shape you and mold you afresh for His purposes.
As I think back to some of the worst things I have lived through, I truly hope I will never have to live through them again. At the same time, I can say with certainty that I would not be who I am in the Lord today without having gone through those difficult and painful experiences. Even Job’s latter end was more blessed than his earlier days, not just in terms of earthly blessings but in terms of his relationship with the Lord.
In the words of the Psalms, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word,” and, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.” (Psalm 119:67, 71)
Lord, bring beauty out of ashes in our lives and manifest your redeeming power.
It is time!