Peace when there is no peace

With all the news about Israel and Iran lately we seem to be heading into something greater as far as a conflict. By Monday President Trump declared a cease fire between the both nations but even that was short lived. Under the threat of the US entering the war both countries have scaled back their aggression but not fully declared peace and never will. Even under the cease fire they still found ways to violate it against each other in the days since. Their hatred for each other dates back to the lineage of Abraham and likely will stay that way until the return of Christ.

Many who are in the know of scriptures likened it to the saying “peace, peace when there is no peace.” This situation and like many who tried before always brings to mind that saying. What exactly was the saying about in the bible?

It comes from Jeremiah 6. In this chapter Jeremiah was describing the conditions that led to the fall of Jerusalem. It did not happen overnight, It was several factors that led to its fall.

Jeremiah conveyed the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 6:13:

13“For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit. 14They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all. 15 Are they ashamed of the abomination they have committed? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; when I punish them, they will collapse,” says the LORD.…

In conflicts as old as the one between Israel and Iran there is much more going on than just the two countries. There are a lot of other countries involved behind the scenes dependent on Iran’s oil and Israel’s continued existence. Declaring peace is trying to put a bandaid on a broken neck, it simply does not happen in this situation, and that was the same for Israel during Jerimiah’s time. Until they can recognize the reality of the problem it will always be there. Without the proper diagnosis like in Jerimiah it will lead to worse things later. Those worse things will affect the whole world.

A cease fire or any ways of achieving peace by any world leader will never last. There is way more going on beyond their sphere of control. It takes both nations working together with the intent on a peaceful solution they can both live by to really reach the peace that is necessary. To do so would require fundamentally different nations to seek Godliness and both are far from it in the ways they function.

God inspires peace in the right way and under the right situation. He treats the illness with the right care to reach the healing. Consider what that means for us personally as well as for a country in

Proverbs 16:7 When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

True peace is only achieved when both parties set aside their differences to seek it along the lines that God shows is in the bible. Living according to his ways is the beginning of achieving the true ways of peace.

Your Brother in Christ,

Steve Koenig

Lakeshore Fellowship