Sentinel Watch August 29, 2011 Issue

In support of peace for the Middle East

Madelon Maupin

Israel, that small land bridge surrounded by Arab states, has long been dependent on foreign energy sources. As a state that has struggled since its founding in 1948 to establish good relations with its oil-producing neighbors, this energy dependence has made Israel’s existence all the more challenging. How stirring, then, that late last year the discovery of a large natural gas field in Israel’s territorial waters of the Mediterranean Sea was announced! The country’s infrastructure minister, Uzi Landau, declared it “the most important energy news since the founding of the state.” He added, too: “. . . Israel can enjoy not only the benefit of using the gas, but it can also turn into a gas supplier in the Mediterranean region” (New York Times, 12/31/10).

The same abundance of peace is possible in that region, as well. Israel, and its Arab neighbors, can discover an equally plentiful provision of goodwill, support, and brotherhood—just as Sunni and Shiite Muslims can forge lasting alliances based on their many commonalities. Looking at the Middle East, we have a prime opportunity to follow Jesus’ instruction to discern the “signs of the times” rather than “the face of the sky” (see Matt. 16:3), or what appears on the surface. To even an experienced historian, the Middle East, with its tangled web of neighborly relations, appears as perplexing and unresolvable as it did in biblical times. Yet looking for “signs of the times” with a spiritual focus reveals unmistakable evidence of the green shoots of resolution.

To experience enduring peace in the region requires the spiritual discernment Jesus outlined—to determine who the “enemy” truly is. Instead of those who don’t share the same ethnicity, religion, or tribe, the adversary can be seen as a false view of man that would define each one from a mortal instead of spiritual standpoint. 