One way God redeems suffering for greater peace

President Joe Biden delivered his final foreign policy address yesterday, stating that a deal to end war in Gaza through a ceasefire and hostage release deal was “on the brink” of being finalized. Israel and Hamas have reportedly been presented with a “final” draft of such an agreement after a “breakthrough” was reached Sunday evening following talks between Qatar’s prime minister, Israel’s intelligence chiefs, and envoys for President Biden and President-elect Trump. A Palestinian source said he expected the deal to be finalized today if “all goes well.”

According to the terms:

• Hamas would release thirty-four hostages during the first of three phases in the ceasefire, while Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
• Women, children, the elderly, and the ill would be among the hostages released in the first phase, though Hamas has not so far publicly confirmed how many of them are alive.
• Israeli troops would eventually withdraw from Gaza, though Israel has reportedly proposed the establishment of a new buffer zone in the strip to prevent future terror attacks.
• Humanitarian aid would be significantly increased to Gaza during the first phase of the ceasefire.
• Discussions about a new governing body and reconstruction of Gaza would be held in the final phase.

Whatever happens with these negotiations, they obviously cannot undo eighteen months of suffering caused by Hamas’s horrific invasion on October 7, 2023. None of us can imagine the pain and suffering of these hostages and their families, or the grief of those who lost loved ones on that day and in the conflict it triggered.

But there is good news amid the bad: we have a God who not only understands our suffering—he feels it personally.

“No other god has wounds”

An elderly seminary professor once advised me, “Be kind to everyone, because everyone’s having a hard time.” The pastor and theologian Joseph Parker agreed: “Preach to the suffering and you will never lack a congregation. There is a broken heart in every pew.”

One way God redeems all he allows is by using our pain to draw us closer to the Great Physician. You don’t usually go to your doctor when you’re well, but when you’re sick. John Piper explained, “This is God’s universal purpose for all Christian suffering: more contentment in God and less satisfaction in the world.”

Why should we believe that our Lord can help us as no one else can?

God understands our suffering because he has experienced it with us. I know this is a commonplace observation for Christians, but no other religion in human history has made such a claim. The Greeks would never have suggested that Zeus feels our pain. Muslims view Allah as distant and impervious to our fallenness. Buddhists and Hindus view ultimate reality as impersonal and cannot imagine this Reality being born in a cave, laid in a feed trough, and dying on a cross.

As Os Guinness noted, “No other god has wounds.”

But the One we worship today knows our pain because he has experienced it personally and still does so today. Jesus was “in every respect . . . tempted as we are” (Hebrews 4:15) and is interceding for us this very moment (Romans 8:34). In addition, the Holy Spirit lives in us (1 Corinthians 3:16) and thus experiences all that we experience. And our Father is holding us in his hand (John 10:29), so nothing can come to us without first passing through him.

No doctor can pretend to possess our Lord’s omniscience, omnipotence, or omnipresence. Nor can any earthly physician truly feel what we feel and suffer as we suffer. But our Great Physician can and does.

“Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance”

However, as with any doctor, this one can treat only the patients who will come to him for help. But it’s not enough to consult him: we must also obey him.

If your doctor tells you that you need to lose weight, exercise more, change your diet, or otherwise modify your life, you can always ignore her advice. So it is with your Lord. Even though he is the King of the universe, he honors the free will he has given you (cf. Revelation 3:20). He can give only what you will receive and lead only where you will follow.

So allow me to ask: What is your next step into obedience with your Lord? If it were easy, you would already have taken it. Such obedience requires us to believe that our Physician knows and wants only what is best for us (1 John 4:8) and that his will always and ultimately results in our good (Romans 8:28).

Blaise Pascal observed:

Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.

“To multiplied trials he multiplies peace”

The Lord called David “a man after my heart” (Acts 13:22), but even he had to walk through “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4a). However, in the hardest places of life, he could pray with triumphant confidence, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (v. 4b).

So can we.

Through a life filled with physical suffering, Annie Johnson Flint could testify personally:

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions he addeth his mercy,
To multiplied trials he multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has no limits, his grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of his infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

For what “burdens” do you need such measureless grace today?

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Quote for the day:

“Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.” —Alexander MacLaren

Denison Forum

“The fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created.” That is how Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg described his company’s efforts to curtail the spread of misinformation for the better part of a decade. So, instead of an army of third-party Meta fact-checkers, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads will move to an X-style community notes form of moderation for most of their content.

Illegal activity, hate speech, pornography, and other clear violations of their content rules will still be taken down, but they are largely trying to move away from policing political and cultural views that are simply matters of free speech.

The news came as a welcome sign of sanity to many on the right, while those on the left tended to view it as a capitulation to the incoming Trump administration and harbinger of hate speech, conspiracy theories, and a host of other perceived ills. However, like most of the overly politicized trends in our culture today, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Zuckerberg went on to acknowledge as much, noting that there will be a “tradeoff” where “we’re going to catch less bad stuff, but we’ll also reduce the number of innocent people’s posts and accounts that we accidentally take down.” He’s decided that tradeoff is worth it, and those close to him say it reflects “an evolved return to his political origins.”

While that sentiment may sound unlikely to those who have watched Facebook grow increasingly restrictive toward views that don’t align with the mainstream or political left, Zuckerberg’s reasons ultimately matter less than the new reality they will usher in. And, in a sign that Meta’s CEO is serious about these changes, that new reality will be guided by a host of new faces as well.

What are Meta’s motivations?

The most famous of those faces is likely UFC President and CEO Dana White, who joined the Board of Directors earlier this week. White is also a close ally to Trump, and introduced the President before his speech at last year’s Republican National Convention.

However, of those Zuckerberg has brought into the fold to guide this transition, Joel Kaplan—a longtime Republican lobbyist and President George W. Bush’s former chief of staff—is likely to play the most prominent role. Kaplan was named Chief of Global Affairs and replaced Nick Clegg, a former deputy prime minister from Britain who’d been in charge of Meta’s policy and regulatory stances since 2018.

In an interview with Fox earlier this week, Kaplan stated that the third-party fact-checkers Meta employed were “well-intentioned at the outset but there’s just been too much political bias in what they choose to fact-check and how.” He also noted that much of that change has occurred over the last four years, arguing that “We saw a lot of societal and political pressure, all in the direction of more content moderation, more censorship, and we’ve got a real opportunity.”

These moves have led many to claim that Meta is simply trying to curry favor with the incoming Trump administration. If that’s the case, it seems to be working. Following Kaplan’s interview, Trump said that Meta has “come a long way.”

Meta’s ability to be an ally rather than an enemy of the government will be essential going forward given that another of Zuckerberg’s stated goals is to combat the even greater levels of censorship found in Europe, Latin America, and China. And as Conner Jones and Micah Tomasella discussed on the inaugural episode of Culture Brief—Denison Forum’s newest podcast—large parts of the world could be primed to join that fight.

Ultimately, time will tell to what extent these changes are effective and how seriously Meta’s platforms are taking the notion of letting their users moderate one another rather than doing it for them. However, this news is yet another example of how the need for discernment has seldom been higher. And that represents an important opportunity for Christians today.

Opportunities we can’t afford to waste

The desire to go back to a time when you could trust what you saw on the news and when people believed their politicians were telling them the truth remains a common refrain among many. To be sure, there was (relatively) less division in our society when people were unable to anonymously yell at strangers from around the world.

However, much of the rise in consternation over the state of public discourse today is due to our ability to know how much of what is said is either incomplete or simply not true. That we’re more aware of the lies we’re told today doesn’t mean that people lied less in previous eras. The lies were simply harder to spot because the implicit trust in media, politicians, and other authority figures was higher.

While the current state of media and social discourse is certainly filled with its pitfalls and problems, it also gives us the ability to test what we’re told to see if it’s true to a level that, in many ways, really is unique to this point in human history. Doing so takes more work, but the potential rewards are much greater as well.

As Christians empowered by the Holy Spirit, we should be better positioned than most to practice such discernment. And just think of the difference it would make if we became known as a group of people others could trust and look to for guidance.

As people who worship the God who is Truth and are tasked with sharing a message that Paul warned would be considered “folly” by those who haven’t believed (1 Corinthians 1:18), discernment is among the most essential traits for us to master. Thankfully, each day presents us with endless opportunities to do just that; opportunities we can’t afford to waste.

So the next time you get ready to open Facebook, Instagram, X, or whatever social media platform you favor, start by asking God to help you discern the truth from the lies. And be sure to say that prayer again before liking, sharing, or otherwise engaging with the content you find.

The Holy Spirit is ready and waiting to help you do just that.

Will you let him?

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Quote of the day:

“Truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light.” — George Washington

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President-elect Donald Trump has been in the news a lot in recent days.

He asked the US Supreme Court to block his New York hush money sentencing scheduled for tomorrow. Since winning the election, he has repeatedly raised the idea of taking over the Panama Canal from Panama and taking control of Greenland from Denmark. He has also said that Canada should become the 51^st US state.

Meanwhile, the remains of former President Jimmy Carter were brought into the US Capitol on Tuesday, where the public has paid their respects ahead of his funeral at the Washington National Cathedral later today. The service begins at 10 a.m. EST; his remains will later be transported to Plains, Georgia, for a private interment this evening at 5:20 p.m.

How to know your neighbors’ politics

Reactions to all of the above have been as partisan as you might expect. Many of Mr. Trump’s supporters believe in his legal innocence and applaud his desire to expand America’s geopolitical reach. Many of his critics have written and said just the opposite. Mr. Carter’s supporters and critics have likewise been vocal in their responses regarding his death and larger legacy.

The rancor of the political Left and Right against each other has seldom been so vividly on display at one time.

Our partisan divisions are clearly reflected in a new Gallup report that shows a record-low percentage of Americans are satisfied with the way democracy is working in the US. In 1984, 60 percent of us said we were satisfied with our democracy; the number currently stands at 28 percent, fewer than ever before.

A new real estate platform now allows homebuyers to access their neighbors’ political affiliations. Customers can view block-by-block political data pulled from election results, campaign contributions, and licensable commercial reports. This will make it even easier for us to live in community with only those with whom we agree on political and cultural issues.

These trends are symptomatic of a larger issue at work in our society, a factor that should evoke both grave concern and empowering spiritual hope for us today.

“Bound together in a common fate”

Longtime readers know of my great appreciation for the work of University of Virginia sociologist James Davison Hunter. His magnum opus, To Change the World, explains cultural transformation better than any resource I have yet seen. I have commented on it and recommended it widely over the years.

In a recent article, Hunter takes his analysis further. He references the “culture wars” of recent decades (he actually coined the term in a 1991 book by that title), noting “the apparent polarization” and “seemingly incommensurable differences” of our society.

However, he states, “We increasingly inhabit a common culture.”

In his view, this culture is “chillingly nihilistic,” a fundamental belief that our cultural opponents are the enemies of all that is good and that we are their victims. Our shared beliefs and community (what he calls “tribal affiliations”) are fashioned in large part in reaction to the perceived injuries inflicted on us by other “tribes.”

Hunter illustrates: “For evangelical Christians, all that was wrong with the world could be traced back to ‘secular humanism.’ Or, to take a different example, for those on the left, all that impeded progress and social justice could be laid at the feet of capitalism and racism.”

Our “politicized identity” is therefore “formed and sustained by way of negation.” As a result, we seek “revenge that renders forgiveness or even democratic compromise impossible” out of a “desire for a purity that cannot abide the existence of the other.” In Hunter’s view, it is vital that we respond by “refusing to see our political opponents as enemies but instead choosing to see them as fellow citizens with whom we are bound together in a common fate” (his emphasis).

“Beggars helping beggars find bread”

This is where Christianity can play a crucial role in our national future. Here’s why:

• We believe that all people, whatever their political persuasions, are created by God in his image (Genesis 1:27) and individuals for whom Jesus died (Romans 5:8). As St. Augustine famously noted, God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
• We believe that all people, whatever their beliefs or challenges, are capable of being transformed by God’s grace into his children (John 1:12) as a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). For any individual, it is always too soon to give up on God.
• We also believe that we are just as sinful as any sinner (Romans 3:23), that we are just as much in need of God’s saving grace (Ephesians 2:8–9), and that we are therefore “beggars helping beggars find bread.”
• And we believe that loving our neighbors as ourselves is both our mandate as followers of Christ (Matthew 22:39; John 13:34–35) and our appropriate response to his love for us (1 John 4:19). Such compassion demonstrates the reality and relevance of our faith and draws a skeptical world closer to our Lord. (For more, see my latest website article, “Firefighters battling ‘unprecedented’ fires in California: The urgency and power of true compassion.”

“To solve man’s basic problem”

Jesus identified the source of our struggles: “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (Matthew 15:19–20). In response, pastor and author Paul Powell noted:

“To solve man’s basic problem we must give him a new heart. We must change the seat of his moral, spiritual, and intellectual being. He must be made right on the inside.”

This is what Jesus—and only Jesus—can do. No other person, religion, political party, or worldview can give us a “new birth” (John 3:3).

In First15, our ministry’s daily devotional, we read:

We were created with an insatiable thirst for relationship with God. We were made to experience true rest and satisfaction in one place and from one relationship: intimacy with the Father. In Jesus we find what our hearts have been looking for from our first breath. In Jesus we find a pathway to the Father not formed by our exploration or wandering, but by his steadfast love and unceasing pursuit.

Will you “experience true rest and satisfaction” today?

NOTE: The first episode of Denison Forum’s new podcast, Culture Brief, is out now on all podcast platforms! Join Conner Jones and Micah Tomasella as they unpack the week’s biggest cultural stories, exploring the latest trends and topics through a Christian lens. I believe they will be helpful in guiding you through politics, sports, technology, and other culture-dominating topics. Listen to the first episode now on your favorite podcast platform. New episodes will be released every Thursday. Make sure to follow the show so you never miss an episode.

Thursday news to know:

• Palisades Fire torches 1,000 structures, most destructive in Los Angeles history
• Israel, Hezbollah fighting stretches a cease-fire deal to the limit
• Iran releases Italian journalist Cecilia Sala
• The polar vortex readies to dump snow on Texas and its neighbors
• On this day in 2007: Steve Jobs debuts the iPhone

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“The greatest conversion called for by Jesus is to move from belonging to the world to belonging to God.” —Henri Nouwen

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