When our solutions make the problem worse

When Secretary of War—or Defense—Pete Hegseth announced last Friday that the US would allow Qatar to build an air force facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, the response was far from positive. The thought of a foreign nation—particularly one that has not been a reliable ally for very long—building a base on American soil sounded like an unprecedented leap from how America usually operates.

And, were that description accurate, it would be. Fortunately, that’s not what’s happening.

Hegseth later clarified that “Qatar will not have their own base in the United States—nor anything like a base. We control the existing base, like we do with all partners.”

As Will Kaback described, “Further details make the news seem a lot less alarming than a 150-character push notification might imply. . . . This arrangement is not unprecedented. It’s not common, but it certainly is far from unique.”

So, what’s actually going on?

The US sold Qatar a contingent of F-15 fighter jets in 2016, and allowing their pilots to train in the continental US was a condition of the purchase. Qatar—which is smaller than the state of Connecticut—does not have the space to adequately train with the jets in its territory, and the topography around the Mountain Home base is the closest fit to what they have back home.

As such, training there made the most sense, and they were approved to work out of that location in 2022. And while in Idaho, they’ll be training alongside pilots from America, Singapore, and other allies.

The agreement is set to last through at least 2034, though it could be extended further if needed. That puts the Qatari presence at Mountain Home on the same timeline as America’s troops in Qatar after the US renewed its agreement to occupy Al Udeid Air Base for another ten years last January.

Why headlines are dangerous

Ultimately, the announcement about a Qatari presence on American soil is far from the “betrayal” and “abomination” that far-right activist Laura Loomer and others initially described. But that is due more to how it was portrayed in the headlines than because of what Hegseth or the content of the actual articles presented. Still, the headlines were enough to stoke anger and confusion among many, and that points to a much larger problem.

As Micah and Conner discussed earlier this year in the Culture Brief, media bias has been a problem for quite some time, and the companies that deliver news often find greater profits in pandering to a particular audience than by trying to be objective. There are signs that this trend may be shifting, but we’re not there yet.

To make matters worse, most people who get their news from social media never read beyond the headlines, with as many as 75 percent of those who share posts doing so without ever clicking through to the article. So, when CNN and others use misleading headlines to generate interest in stories like the one above, the ensuing narrative can be challenging to correct.

And it would appear that Hegseth and the Pentagon are tired of trying to do just that.

“A stranglehold on the free press”

Last month, Hegseth announced that any journalist who wants to maintain access to the Pentagon must sign a statement acknowledging that Defense Department “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.” Moreover, such information will be provided “when there is a lawful governmental purpose for doing so,” and anyone who attempts to attain information by talking directly with Pentagon employees will be in violation of the new rules.

The policy also warns that service members could be prosecuted for releasing “non-public information” to journalists and reporters. Consequently, were the media to ask for such information, they could be credibly accused of “soliciting DOW (Department of War) service members and civilians to commit crimes.”

So, while the new policy does not explicitly threaten the media for reporting information that the Pentagon deems unapproved, the implied consequences of crossing that line are dire. As Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley warned, “What they’re basically saying is if you publish anything that’s not in the press release, is not the official statement of the Pentagon, you could be held responsible. . . . That is going to create a stranglehold on the free press. And the cost is too great.”

As such, more than thirty news organizations, ranging from CNN and the New York Times to Fox News and Newsmax, have declined to sign the agreement. And when the deadline passed yesterday afternoon, dozens of reporters turned in their press badges and left in defiance of the new rules.

It’s unclear how long the Pentagon will maintain this policy or whether media members who refuse to sign it can still perform their jobs without direct access. However, if Hegseth is truly attempting to address the well-earned lack of trust in the media’s reporting, forcing them to choose between the government’s official narrative and sources they cannot adequately verify seems like a pretty awful solution that will only make the problem worse.

Unfortunately, that tendency to cling to answers that only exacerbate the issues is hardly limited to the Department of War.

The only solution to sin

Our ability to identify a problem matters little if our solution makes it worse. Yet, far too often, we get so wrapped up in finding an answer that we never stop to evaluate whether we’re addressing the real issue until it’s too late. And while we can make that mistake in any area of our lives, one of the most common is in our approach to sin.

Recognizing where we fall short of God’s standard is usually pretty simple. A little self-awareness goes a long way in discerning where we’re most vulnerable to temptation. However, it can be easy to fixate on the symptoms of our sin rather than the root cause, with the result that those roots become even more deeply embedded in our lives.

Jesus spoke to this tendency in the Sermon on the Mount, when he repeatedly focused on the motivations behind our sins as much or more than the actions themselves (Matthew 5:21–48). And his solution echoes what we find in Psalm 51, where David cries out, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

As long as our solutions to the sins in our lives focus on what we can do rather than on who God wants us to become, odds are good that those sins will only grow into even bigger problems. We may go through periods where it seems like the issue is solved, but the temptation is likely to return in force unless we partner with the Holy Spirit to truly repent and address the reasons why that temptation held such sway in the first place.

So, where does the Holy Spirit need to get to work in your life? Are there any sins that just keep coming back, no matter how hard you try to solve them?

We are blessed to serve a God who knows our hearts and minds well enough to identify the real source of our sins. But he’s not going to fix them for us unless we humbly submit to partner with him in that effort.

Are you willing to take that step today?

Quote of the day:

“You cannot make men good by law; and without good men you cannot have a good society.” —C. S. Lewis

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We are starting to hear horrific stories about what the hostages in Gaza endured over their two years of captivity. Some were so deprived of food that they now have to be taught how to eat normally again. Just reading Eli Sharabi’s book about his ordeal was painful for me. I cannot imagine what they are going through today.

Their suffering raises the question: Do you believe God could have liberated the hostages two years ago?

Why, then, didn’t he?

In her New York Times newsletter “Believing,” Lauren Jackson quotes the Rev. Munther Isaac, a Palestinian Christian based in the West Bank: “The war has made so many people question God—his absence, his silence.”

They are not alone.

If you’re praying for much at all

Hamas expected its October 7 invasion of Israel to spark a “ring of fire” assault from its jihadist partners surrounding Israel that would destroy the Jewish state. Instead, Israel took out the leadership of Hezbollah and Hamas; Israel and the US decimated Iran’s nuclear infrastructure; an uprising toppled Iran’s puppet regime in Syria. Pressure from other Arab states and Muslim nations finally forced Hamas’s hand, leading to the celebrations we have seen in Israel as their last living hostages finally came home.

But if you believe that God “rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28) and “does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3), you do not believe he needed any of this to happen to intervene miraculously. He sent plagues and used the Red Sea to destroy Egypt, the superpower of its day. His angel struck down the army of the Assyrians, the superpower of its day (2 Kings 19:35).

As surely as he acted to release Peter from Herod’s prison in Jerusalem (Acts 12:1–11), he could have acted to release the hostages from Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza two years ago.

Why didn’t he?

Now apply our question to any yet-unanswered prayer in your life. Perhaps you’ve been praying for a lost person to come to Christ, or for a wayward child to come home, or for a physical, financial, emotional, or relational need to be met. Perhaps you’ve been praying for spiritual awakening in our land and a turn to biblical morality.

If you’re praying for much at all, you are most likely praying for something that has not yet come to pass.

If you asked me for something I could do but don’t, eventually you’d stop asking. Why keep praying to God?

Two hopeful approaches to suffering

Like the hostages in Gaza, Joseph was kidnapped from his homeland and taken captive to a foreign land, where he was imprisoned through no fault of his own. There he interpreted the dream of the Egyptian pharaoh’s chief cupbearer, but when his interpretation was fulfilled and the man was restored to his position, he “forgot” Joseph (Genesis 40:22).

Again like the hostages in Gaza, “two whole years” passed with Joseph imprisoned (Genesis 41:1). We’re not told why God waited so long to free him, but we can connect his story to two theological approaches to evil and suffering that remain helpful and hopeful today.

One: God uses suffering to grow us spiritually

According to a Jerusalem Post study, a third of Israelis say they hold a stronger belief in God since October 7. This is not unusual.

The second-century apologist St. Irenaeus proposed the “soul building” model whereby God uses suffering to catalyze spiritual growth in our lives. We see this in Joseph: while he bragged about his dreams of personal glory years earlier (Genesis 37:5–11), now he honored God with his interpretive answers (Genesis 41:16).

You can perhaps point to times in your life when suffering led you to depend upon God more fully than before. As Charles Spurgeon testified, “I am certain that I never did grow in grace one-half so much anywhere as I have upon the bed of pain.”

Two: God works in the present for a better future

Many of us are praying for the hostage release to lead to genuine peace for Palestinians and Israelis. Perhaps the timing of the former will help advance the latter.

In Joseph’s world, God had a plan to bring seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. He used Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams to reveal this plan, then he used Pharaoh to elevate him to prime minister so he could prepare the nation. He did all this to draw Joseph’s own family to Egypt, where they were reunited and eventually became the nation through whom the Messiah would come one day.

I have personally seen God’s mysterious timing at work over the years. For example, a man I knew was praying for a new job, apparently without answers. But he didn’t know that a person would soon retire from the home office, leading to a promotion from the local office, leading to an opening that my friend would fill.

The fact that he could not see God at work made his work no less real. To paraphrase Spurgeon again: When you cannot see your Father’s hand, trust his heart.

Translating the Bible with one finger

If you are experiencing the silence of God today, you may feel like Joseph imprisoned in Egypt. But Joseph was eventually able to tell the brothers who sold him into captivity, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).

One day, perhaps in eternity but perhaps far sooner, you will be able to say the same. In the meantime:

• Would you turn your obstacles into opportunities to trust more fully in your Father?

• Would you ask him to work in ways you cannot see to accomplish his greater purposes in your life and world?

• Would you believe that he redeems all he allows and trust your pain to his providence?

Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky died on this day in 1906 at the age of seventy-five. Born in Lithuania in 1831, he went to Germany to study for the rabbinate, where he became a Christian. He emigrated to America, trained for the priesthood, and was sent by the Episcopal Church to China. There, he translated the Bible into Mandarin, was elected bishop of Shanghai, founded St. John’s University, and began translating the Bible into Wenli, another Chinese dialect.

However, he developed Parkinson’s disease and became largely paralyzed. Resigning his bishopric, he spent the rest of his life completing his Wenli Bible, typing the last two thousand pages with the one finger that he could still move.

Four years before his death, he said:

“I have sat in this chair for over twenty years. It seemed very hard at first. But God knew best. He kept me for the work for which I am best fitted.”

What “chair” would you trust God to redeem in your life today?

Quote for the day:

“You don’t really know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” —Tim Keller

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Charlie Kirk would have turned thirty-two years old today. Instead, his life and death will be remembered this evening when President Trump posthumously awards him the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Charlie’s widow, Erika, will join the president for the ceremony in the East Room of the White House.

As I heard a commentator say, Charlie died for what he believed in, but he is being honored for what he did. And God continues to work in response to his tragic death in remarkable ways. For example, the former Navy SEAL and No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr said that Charlie’s assassination is prompting him and his family to return to church and to “make some changes” in their lives.

However, despite tonight’s honor and remarkable spiritual responses to Charlie’s death, the fact remains that his wife is a widow raising their children without their father. And the world will miss all Charlie could have done in the decades he should have lived.

In other news, Israelis continue to rejoice in the return of their hostages. More than five hundred thousand Palestinians have returned to Gaza City, and aid to Gaza is significantly increasing.

However, challenges remain. Hamas is reportedly attempting to reassert control in Gaza and punishing those it suspects of collaborating with Israel. Its jihadist ideology remains prevalent in the region. And geopolitical expert Richard Haass warns: “Hamas has not accepted that it must disarm, and even if it did, there is no way to monitor or verify the handing over . . . of its weapons.” He adds that “Hamas can be denied a formal role in Palestinian governance, but it will still have influence, possibly more than any other actor.”

Truth and a Persian legend

In his address to the Knesset yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted from the book of Ecclesiastes.

This is because Monday was the seventh day of Sukkot, the Jewish festival known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths (Leviticus 23:42–43), during which it is traditional to read the book. Mr. Netanyahu quoted from the famous third chapter: “A time for war, and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:8).

However, the latter cannot come unless both sides refuse the former.

In the epigraph to his latest book, The Future of Truth, acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog tells what he calls a “Persian legend”:

God had a great mirror, and when God looked in the mirror, he saw the truth. One day God dropped the mirror, and the mirror shattered into a thousand pieces. Men fought to secure a piece of the mirror for themselves. They all looked into their own shards, saw themselves, and thought they saw the truth.

Asaph the psalmist did the same. After complaining that the “wicked” around him are “always at ease” and “increase in riches” (Psalm 73:12), he commented on what he saw in his own “mirror”: “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken” (vv. 13–14).

I would imagine that Erika Kirk can resonate with Asaph’s “reflection.” As can the hostages and their loved ones, and especially those grieving those they lost on October 7 and because of October 7. As can you and I whenever we face challenges and trials that are not our fault.

“My flesh and my heart may fail”

However, for those who trust in God, the bad news is never the last news.

In Asaph’s case, he reports, “When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end” (vv. 16–17). There he saw that God “set them in slippery places” and will “make them fall to ruin” (v. 18) so that “they are destroyed in a moment” (v. 19).

By contrast, Asaph prays,

I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever (vv. 23–26).

God’s omnipotence and omnibenevolence had not changed, but Asaph “went into the sanctuary of God,” where he shifted his soul’s “mirror” from himself to his Lord. Then he saw the reality that was there all along.

This is why we need to trust God most on those days when we want to trust him least.

The Bible is not true because it works—it works (in God’s providence) because it is true. If God is the God of the Bible, he is “that than which nothing greater can be conceived” (quoting St. Anselm). This means that, by definition, his ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). If we could understand him, either we would be God or he would not be.

Consequently, the days when our pain and suffering seem to demand that we reject a supposedly all-loving, all-powerful God are the very days we need his love and power the most. The sicker the patient, the more essential the physician.

“Faith is to believe what you do not see”

So, let me invite you to take your “mirror” into “the sanctuary of God” in your heart and point it at your Father. Remember your personal encounters with the grace you see reflected there—the sins he has forgiven, the needs he has met, the prayers he has answered, the salvation he has purchased for your eternal soul.

Then decide to emulate the courage for which Charlie Kirk wanted to be remembered, the courage Eli Sharabi and the other hostages displayed through their ordeal. Decide to use your obstacles as opportunities for faith that shows a skeptical world the reality and relevance of your Lord.

The greater our need for courage, the greater the need our courage will meet.

Let us remember,

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe” (St. Augustine).

Will you believe in the One you do not see today?

Quote for the day:

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” —Oswald Chambers

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