It seems as though war has been part of the human experience since the beginning. I don’t have the numbers, but I don’t think we have more wars now than we have had in the past. I think we just have cable news and cell phones which make broadcasting the conflicts that do exist much easier. We have invented some very deadly means of killing each other, but even the oldest and most brutal don’t seem to go out of fashion. Beheading still works.
War can be one of the scariest events to live through. For civilians who have no control over the ebb and flow of the battle, life becomes completely unpredictable. Carrying out the most basic functions of life can be life altering. Just like living in some parts of the large cities around the world, bullets can fly through the wall and hit you at any moment.
Jesus knows that wars are scary. He understands this. And yet He tells His disciples, and us through Mark, that we don’t need to be afraid, that we shouldn’t get all spun up in fear. This is a hard thing to put into practice. Not only is war horrible, but now we have the images to prove it, images of the worst kinds of horrors imaginable. In fact, we can watch some wars live! And some people do! Some people don’t get enough real war, so they play video games that feed the need for violence and control. In real life they can’t do much to stop the violence, but in the game, they pull the trigger. They are in control.
We don’t need to be alarmed when we hear of war. The worst that can happen is we get tortured and killed. Ouch! I can’t believe you wrote those words. Torture and death, torture and death. Heaven! Heaven! Heaven! You see killing the body is not the end. Compared to forever, a period of torture will fade into insignificance.
Now I am speaking as someone who hasn’t been tortured, except if you count raising kids! So I am speaking purely hypothetically here. If you have been tortured and have a different outlook, please let us know. I am not trying to downplay the horrors of torture, but highlighting the glories of Heaven. Paul called his tortures light and momentary trials (2Cor 4:17). I pray I have this perspective when my time comes.
Having been and war and dealing with its horrors for a number of years, this is no light subject. But wars are just birth pains. They signal that something is wrong, that something much more important is about to happen. Braxton Hicks contractions remind moms that greater pains are coming. They also prepare her body for the real event. They get the muscles ready and in shape for the push. They get her used to discomfort and pain. They signal her that the time of joy will soon come.
And just as a woman must go through labor in order to have the joys of being a mother, so the world must go through wars, earthquakes and famines. These events point forward to a time when none of these catastrophic events will take place. The ravages of sin take their toll. The pain of this life is a reminder of sin’s price. As the toll mounts over time, it will get more painful.
And the LORD allows that pain. It is a way of getting us to look up, and call out to Him. It is a reminder that we aren’t in control, that we don’t have it all together, that we aren’t masters of our universe. We are weak and frail. Something as small as the head of a pin can kill us.
The Arnold Journey 