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“How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises” (Habakkuk 1:2-3 NASB).

Have you ever heard someone ask, “If God is all powerful and loving, then why does He allow suffering, hardship, and evil within our world?” When presented with such a question, we often provide some half-hearted reply about living in a fallen or sinful world, but rarely do we join our frustration to that of the person asking that question. We don’t allow ourselves to openly exclaim that our beliefs about God don’t always make sense within the world that exists before our eyes. We would never permit ourselves to say, “God, what are you doing?” To do so would seem to indicate a lack of faith.

The prophets did not look at things in such a manner. When life’s circumstances challenged their theology, they didn’t default to an answer about a fallen world; rather, they expressed their frustration with God. The prophet Habakkuk was especially outspoken in this regard. He recognized that the people of Judah had sinned and fallen short of God’s mark, but God was judging Judah with the Babylonians, who were even worse than the Judahites: “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days—you would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans” (Habakkuk 1:5-6). Today we might wonder: How did that make sense? How could God judge Judah for its unrighteousness by a people even more unrighteous than they?

Habakkuk never sought easy answers to the difficult questions or to the circumstances and events his world presented. Nor did the challenge that such events posed to his conviction of God cause him to jettison his faith. Rather, he sought answers. He never received the precise answer to the question he posed, but God did answer him. That is a sign of a robust faith—faith that neither turns from the hard questions posed by life and circumstance nor abandons its conviction that God is indeed Who He said He is.

It’s hard not to look at our world today and occasionally wonder what God is doing or where He is. Our faith should have the courage to voice such frustrations and affirm those who express them, as did the prophets. At the same time, do we have the firm persistence, a persistence born from a conviction that God does answer, to say, “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved” (Habakkuk 2:1).

PRAYER

Lord, when we look at the world around us, it is sometimes frustrating and confusing. Where are You? Why does evil persist; why do the innocent and righteous suffer? How long, O Lord, will this continue? But in the midst of our frustration and confusion, we acknowledge that You are a God who answers, and so we await Your reply. Amen.

He felt so helpless. Not as badly as when Jacob had seen Nazis shoot people in the street, or assault his sisters, or take his parents away—never to return. And he couldn’t forget the horror of watching his grandmother and others lined up in front of a huge hole in the ground and shot in the back—after which the young boy was mute for days.

Immigrating to Israel and proudly serving for 40 years in the Israeli army helped ease those early memories. So did the joy of eventually getting married, raising two children, and then becoming a loving grandparent. But today was a different kind of stress—the medication Jacob’s wife needed for a recently diagnosed medical condition was expensive and he didn’t know how he’d pay for it.

Thankfully, compassionate friends like you made it possible for CBN Israel to purchase her medicine, provide her with transportation to doctors’ appointments, and help with other basic needs. Such generous aid has been a tremendous source of encouragement and strength for the couple, and they are so grateful.

You can be a blessing to so many Holocaust survivors, like Jacob, providing them with regular grocery deliveries from our compassionate field teams, along with opportunities to attend social activities and field trips with others in their community.

Your special gift today will also provide relief to victims of terrorism, food and counseling to new immigrants, meals and education to single moms, and so much more. 

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7 NIV).

The land of Israel sat at the crossroads of the ancient world. Its geographic location made the land strategically significant. For this reason, throughout Israel’s history, people and empires fought to control this international crossroads.

Within the ancient world, the horse and chariot represented the height of military technology. The armies that had superior cavalry and chariot forces often won the day and exerted their control over a region.

Throughout the Bible, Israel’s ability to remain within this strategic land depended upon their obedience to God. If the people of Israel obeyed the commandments of God, they stayed in the land. If they did not, God would remove them. The prophets and psalmists cautioned against trusting in horses and chariots. In other words, Israel’s military would not keep the Israelites in the land; instead, the people’s obedience to God would.

Trusting in horses and chariots meant that they sought within the military technology and strategy of the day the source of their power and sustainability at the crossroads of the world—instead of obedience to God.

In Deuteronomy, we are told God commanded that when the people established a king he “must not acquire great numbers of horses” (17:16). The prophet Isaiah admonished, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD” (Isaiah 31:1).

Israel would remain at the crossroads only when obedient; if they obeyed, they could trust that God would defend them and protect them against foreign threat. This is why the psalmist notes that while some trust in horses and chariots, Israel’s hope is in the name of the Lord.

Our modern world seeks to woo us into trusting our technology, our might, and our selves. Like Israel, we run the risk of losing sight of what keeps us anchored in our world—the source that sustains us.

We find ourselves distracted by all the shiny new innovations that show up in today’s world, thinking that through this or that technology we can gain greater influence—even influence for God.

But the answer isn’t pride in our technology or in our ingenuity; it’s trusting in God, remaining obediently faithful to Him at the crossroads of our world. This, in fact, is the greatest witness we can have to His greatness—looking to Him and obeying Him, not trusting in our world’s sources of power and ingenuity.

PRAYER

Father, we look to You; we trust in Your name. Help us to remain obedient to You at our crossroads. Amen.

She had lived in fear for 19 years. Nina settled her family in Sderot, Israel, before the missile launches from Gaza had begun. But now, they lived in constant fear of bombings. The relentless blaring of sirens meant it was nearly impossible to rest, to sleep, to live a normal life. They often had to seek cover in bomb shelters. Nina cared for her sick mother and teenage daughter while earning a living, and the stress never ended. How much longer could they go on this way?

She began having panic attacks as her life spiraled out of control. One of CBN Israel’s partners was out shopping when she saw Nina and felt the need to approach her. Within moments a tearful Nina began explaining how she couldn’t sleep at night, her life was a mess, and she didn’t know how to gather her thoughts even for the most straightforward task.

What a fortunate encounter! Our local partners in Sderot, who dedicate their lives helping its people, provide free professional psychological treatments and help residents learn how to cope with the onslaught. With time—and the tools provided—Nina felt more at peace, and she passed on that gift of peace to her mother and daughter. You made it possible for her to receive this life-changing help!

You can be a blessing to so many victims of terrorism like Nina. Your support can provide trauma counseling and financial assistance to those affected by terror as well as emergency response equipment and training for communities on the front lines. Together, we can counter these vicious attacks with tangible expressions of love and compassion.

Your special gift today will also provide help and hope to Holocaust survivors, food and counseling to new immigrants, meals and education to single moms, and so much more. 

“Now the word of the Lord came to him [Abram]: ‘This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.’ He took him outside and said, ‘Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then He said to him, ‘Your offspring will be that numerous.’ Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, ‘I am Yahweh who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess. … But you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure’” (Genesis 15:4-7, 15-16 HCSB).

We often read the Bible to seek out the promises of God for ourselves. Reading them gives us peace and hope that God is with us and that He will bring us through our circumstances. Abraham offers a figure to whom God made tremendous promises, who proved faithful to God. But have you ever noticed that Abraham never lived to see the fullness of God’s promises? Abraham saw Isaac, but he never saw his descendants as numerous as the stars of the heavens. He never saw his seed inherit the Promised Land.

We search the promises of the Bible to bolster our faith that God will take care of us or see what He will do for us. Remember that in the Bible, the “we” is always more important than the “me.” Had Abraham only sought God’s promises for himself or looked for their fulfillment in his lifetime, he could never have been the father of faith. But Abraham was believing God.

He recognized that God’s plans extended beyond him—that he and his faithfulness had a role to play within God’s bigger picture. But he did not see the fullness of the promise. He trusted God. And he did his part; he played his role faithfully.

Does our spirituality focus primarily on what God has done, can do, or will do for us? Or are we content to be faithful and serve him, playing our role within His will, not ours? Do we need to see His promises realized in our circumstances, immediately, or will we remain faithful in light of the possibility that we may not see the promise realized in our lifetime?

Abraham went to his grave with only God’s promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars and that God would bring them back into the land. Yet he remained faithful. Do we have that degree of faith?

PRAYER

Father, enable me to serve You and faithfully perform my duty to You, so that Your will is done—even when I don’t see it. Amen.

“I will give thanks to You, O Lord; for although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me” (Isaiah 12:1 NASB).

As children, we made mistakes. Sometimes a lot of mistakes. And, yes, sometimes our mistakes roused our parents’ anger. If we had good and loving parents, nothing was more comforting than when they looked past their anger and disappointment with us, saw our sadness and disappointment, and comforted us. We still make mistakes. And we still seek comfort.

We may not have comprehended it all as children, but somehow, we understood that in those moments when our parents chose to comfort us instead of acting on their righteous anger, we gained a genuine sense of awe for our parents. We knew that they had the right to their anger; we had fallen short. But they chose to comfort us instead.

The psalmist said, “If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” (Psalm 130:3-4). It’s God’s mercy, His ability to turn from His anger and comfort us, that ought to draw us closer to Him. That He desires and is willing to do so is incredible. 

Do we allow Him to comfort us? We seek His comfort when we are hurting from life’s circumstances, but do we allow Him to comfort us when we have failed Him? Do we recognize that He desires to comfort us, even when He’s been angry at us?

God often forgives us more quickly than we forgive ourselves. God’s comfort in our lives, however, brings us to a place without fear: “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2). It enables us to trust Him. 

When our parents sought to comfort us, despite our mistakes, it played an important role in building our trust with them. We most likely came to see that their love for us did not depend upon circumstances but instead was rooted deeply in their relationship with us.

We can trust God because He turns aside His anger with us to comfort us. He is for us. We need to allow Him to comfort us today.

PRAYER

Father, I thank You, for though You were angry with me, Your anger turned away and You comforted me. Amen.

He feared for his life. What would happen to Alisher—a devout Muslim turned Christian—once he had finished serving a prison term in Uzbekistan for being of another faith? Alisher and his wife, Sulima, feared still more beatings and persecution.

Fortunately, because of Alisher’s Jewish heritage, the couple was able to get in touch with people who helped them through the process of making Aliyah, so they could immigrate to Israel. In fact, the process that usually takes up to two years was streamlined to just a few months, and the couple and their five children safely reached their new home.

As the new immigrants struggled with the stresses of being in an unfamiliar country, CBN Israel heard of their plight and provided much-needed financial aid. That assistance helped them take their first steps in the land of Israel. Our local partners continually help the family with adapting to a new culture and finding their way in a new land. This vital work is made possible because of the generous support of our donors.

You can be a blessing to so many new immigrants, like Alisher and Sulima, providing them with groceries, housing, medical care, financial aid, and job training. You can also give them comfort and friendship as they pursue a better life in their Jewish homeland.

Your special gift today will also provide help and hope to Holocaust survivors, relief to victims of terrorism, meals and education to single moms, and so much more. 

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. … Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same. … Don’t collect any more than you are required to. … Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay” (Luke 3:8, 11, 13, 14 NIV).

Repentance is usually seen as something between God and us. We sin and disobey; we come to Him in repentance. John the Baptist led a spiritual revival calling the people to repent and return to God. For him, repentance had to bear the fruits of repentance as evidence that the people’s repentance was genuine.

While John called the people to return to God—“Prepare the way of the Lord”—when they inquired what they should do to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance,” he gave them rather practical actions. Perhaps even more significant than their practicality is that the actions John advised all pertained to how they related with others instead of God: Give clothes and food to those who are without, don’t extort, don’t rob.

As Christians, we often compartmentalize our spirituality from our daily life. When I’m spiritual, that pertains to my relationship with God. How I behave as I go through my day, well, that’s just life. Yet the biblical view does not accept such segregation. The way to God is through others. In other words, the true evidence of my spirituality and relationship with God is manifested in how I treat others, including practical issues like caring for the poor and hungry and conducting business relationships and interactions.

John not only called the people to repent, preparing the way of the Lord; he also instructed them to bear the fruits of repentance. And what were those? How they treated one another. How they cared for the poor and hungry. How they behaved in business dealings with each other.

Too often we broadcast our love for God, even seeing ourselves as His defenders within our current age, yet our treatment of those around us, those we encounter in our daily lives, does not bear the fruit of the relationship we claim. John expected those who embraced his movement to show in their treatment of others the fruit born from their repentance.

PRAYER

Father, as we turn to You today, may we bear the fruit of our repentance in our daily lives and relationships, with family, friends, and strangers. Amen.

It isn’t always easy to fit in. Being a new immigrant in Israel can be a real challenge. Most immigrants have left behind family and friends and everything that used to be familiar, and now feel isolated with no idea where to turn for help. How can they feel more like they’re a part of their adoptive nation and its traditions?

Because of generous friends like you, our CBN Israel team is there to smooth the way for so many new immigrants. We provide a special program called the Alpha Course that teaches attendees about the history of Israel and lets them participate in a traditional Shabbat dinner. Each weekend, 15 to 20 families come together and learn about Israeli traditions, history and culture. Within this framework, people can come together in their new environment and start to form new relationships.

As one participant explained, “Being a new immigrant is very difficult; not only the struggle with learning the language but also acclimating to Israeli society and culture. Thanks to the Alpha Course, I can learn about the history of Israel more genuinely, as well as participate in a traditional Shabbat dinner.”

This is just one way you can be a blessing to new immigrants who are making their prophetic return to Israel. You can also provide them with groceries, housing, medical care, financial aid, and job training. Through CBN Israel, you can give them comfort and friendship as they pursue a better life in the land of their ancestors.

Your special gift today will also provide help and hope to Holocaust survivors, relief to victims of terrorism, meals and education to single moms, and so much more. 

“Don’t gloat when your enemy falls, and don’t let your heart rejoice when he stumbles, or the Lord will see, be displeased, and turn His wrath away from him” (Proverbs 24:17-18 NCSB).

How we treat our enemies says a lot about our relationship with God. Society today takes great joy in the falling and stumbling of those seen as our adversaries or opponents. Such attitudes permeate our civil and political discourse. We rejoice whenever our enemies fail.

We grow up like this. How often, as kids, did we mock someone who physically fell or stumbled? It’s natural that as adults we rejoice in the falling of our enemies. Sometimes we even attach divine justice to their stumbling as proof that God prefers us and looks out for us against our enemies. Such sentiments, however, are evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Jesus commanded His followers, “I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you” (Luke 6:27-28 NLT). He called upon His followers to love their enemies; in fact, for Him, this was the principal characteristic for those belonging to the kingdom of Heaven—love your enemies.

While rejoicing in our enemy’s failures and failings is simple human nature, love of our enemies requires our obedience to Jesus. In a world where the misfortune of our enemies provides cause for rejoicing, Jesus demands His followers to live differently, to love their enemies. Even the misfortunes of those hostile to our faith and God we cannot celebrate, for God causes His rain and sun to come upon the righteous and unrighteous alike (Matthew 5:45). God does not distinguish between friend and foe in His mercy, and neither can we (Luke 6:36).

The test of our faith is not how we treat those who think like us, act like us, or even like us. The test of whether we are true followers of Jesus is how we love those who don’t think like us, who are not like us, and who don’t even like us. “Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble.”

PRAYER

Father, may I walk in obedience to You today by loving my enemies and showing mercy to them, as You show mercy to them. Amen.