Standing With Isreal

Genesis 12
1Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." [ESV]

It seems to be getting to the point where it's the in thing to come out and say bad things about Israel. Even to the point where people who supposedly support Israel are finding it to be ok to come out and say that the things that Israel is doing are wrong.

For example, when Israel's neighbors fire rockets into Israel's cities, and kill their children, and when Israel responds to the attacks, even when they are restrained, and very careful to keep from killing too many people, and try hard to not kill women and children, at times even at the cost of more Israelis, they are terribly vilified in the press, both here and abroad.

To my mind, if you look at Israel, and, even putting aside the fact that the Jews are God's chosen people, see that they are a small nation that has been attacked from all sides for all the years since that tiny nation's creation in the 1940's. They are surrounded by nations and cultures that are openly committed to their destruction. After all the attacks that they have suffered, and all the people that they have lost in the course of events, there is nothing that they could do that would be an over-reaction. I know that there are some people who would read that and think that I meant that there are reasonable limits to that, but no, I mean it, there is literally nothing that could be done, by Israel, that would be going too far, up to, and including, the use of Nuclear weapons, which, I don't believe for a second that they will do, but, if they did, it wouldn't be out of line, all things considered. If there were any doubts about how much I stand in Israel's corner, I hope that this cleared things up.

Enough of my rant though. The actual point I want to make is what our nation will open itself up to if we stop standing with Israel as we have for decades now. God, in His Word, makes no equivocations on this topic, " I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse..." There is no question that the USA has been richly blessed by God, and I think that there are two reasons for that, the first being that throughout our nations history, a majority of Americans have at least tried to honor God, and our nation has had, as an official policy, standing with the Nation of Israel. Both of these positions are in serious jeopardy today. In fact, honoring God is not only something that people care little for today, it has actually become fashionable to dishonor God. There are also many signs our nation no longer takes it as a given that we will stand by Israel, regardless of the fact that, all other things aside, they have been one of our best allies in the world for decades.

At play here, of course, are a few things. By failing to honor God, we pretty much guarantee that we will lose those blessings that we have become accustomed to, but, much more seriously than that, if we turn our backs on Israel, and begin to stand with their enemies, we will be cursed by God. As bad as losing blessing would be, I think we can all agree that being cursed is much worse. I was going to say that we run a big risk by doing this, but that doesn't cover it, God didn't say, "I may Curse them that curse you," He said, "I WILL curse." So, it's not a risk, it's a certainty.

God has blessed Israel, and if we bless them, we will receive blessing also, but if we curse them (ie turn against them to be their enemy) He will still bless them, and curse us. That's the bottom line, and one we cannot afford to ignore.