complicated

Syria's war has raged for going on eight years.  There are more than three overlapping wars tearing away at her heart and soul. Over time they have  birthed monsters like ISIS, caused the population of Europe to swell with waves of refugees, and subjected the planet to truths of sex slavery and nerve gas. 

More sticky: this war has pulled Russia, Iran, the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel into the fray. Many agendas have come out and been slammed on the global table, and there has been surprisingly little ripple effect amongst the media weary, over informed citizens of planet earth who feel they have no voice and can't change anything. 

Yes, the war started because it stopped raining. But that was complicated because Turkey built a dam on the other side of the border taking away the water Syria used to rely on. Yes, the war began with civilians complaining about the government, but civilians crowding into cities pushed restlessness into a tailspin. It didn't help that Arab Spring swept across the Middle East that distant 2010 ago. Governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen were toppled. It's not surprising that Hopes ran high for democracy and free elections in Syria. 

But uprisings in Syria triggered splinters.  Kurdish minorities in northern Syria had long been silenced. They were forbidden to use their mother tongue and had had their citizenship taken away. Their goal was relatively healthy: a place to call home. Unfortunately, ISIS was birthed at the same time, and their methods were abysmal. Syrian Christians, Jews and Yezedi Kurds were slaughter before the Sword of Islam. ISIS naturally stole media limelight. As turmoil exploded into a refugee and humanitarian crisis the world got involved.

Perhaps it's been a test of our character, as individuals, and a test of our peoplehood as citizens of earth. Some responded by running to join ISIS; some laid down their lives as missionaries to refugees. Some fueled government responses; some funded humanitarian aid. But few on earth are untouched now by Syria. Nor should we be. 

The Bible is Middle East centric. The fact that Turkey has now declared that Israel is a terrorist state; that Russia is giving land in Syria to Turkey (as if it has a right to?); that no one is able to stop Turkey from declaring that Syria and part of Iraq belong to Turkey as it reinstitute the Ottoman Empire are extremely curious. It would have seemed that this war was about Syria and Syrians and their right and justice. Suddenly it is a pawn. How much of this was staged earlier in the game than we realized? 

But the Middle East centric bit is important. The Bible says that "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Hab. 2:14. In numbers 14:21 it says, "The earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord." Psalms 22:27 expands this to explain: "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, And all the families of the nations will worship before You."

James 4:2 says that we have not because we ask not. In Matthew 6:10 Jesus said to ask God that His Kingdom would come on earth as it is in Heaven. Let's do that for Syria. Humans have made a mess of things there. Rather than blaming, taking sides, throwing stones, let's ask God to intervene. And then let's keep the widows and orphans, the hungry, the cold, the sick and oppressed of Syria and the region in our prayers and ask God what He would have us to to partner with Him - as His hands and feet - to bring transformation - and His Kingdom. 

(map from Pre-emptive Love)