Is this the end of the line in the Middle East? USA Today labels it "Final confrontation" and reports that over the Easter weekend merchants and religious leaders in the Holy Land felt that the escalating violence had "cast a pall of hopelessness over the holidays." Letters to other US newspapers indicate that hopelessness has spread around the world, with people feeling they can't bear the latest installment of news because each one indicates futility and spreading danger.

Even Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, a longtime student of the region, claimed on CNN recently that people are "out of ideas" on how to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Indeed, things have become so confusing that even he had "lost the thread of blame."

What does this mean to those who have been praying about the Middle East conflict? Are we out of ideas? Is it time to give up?

No. And yes.

It is not time to give up praying. But prayer may need to acknowledge the futility of merely human measures.

"Man's extremity is God's opportunity," is a maxim that may frame a way to fortify prayer at this time. If God can be seen as infinite and omnipotent, as unconditionally caring about every single one of us—enemies and friends—then the present "extremity" can help us to accept a God who is still in charge, regardless of our inability to see evidence of it.

So the issue now—and probably always—is: How do we get out of the way and let this truth show forth with power?

Many who have struggled to overcome a difficult personal problem through prayer have come up against a brick wall of hopelessness. Those who survive see in that hopelessness the futility of trying to control the situation through their own efforts. And this, in turn, leads to complete trust in and surrender to the power of good, which heals the problem.

Another word for this surrender is humility. As certain as one may be about the correct solution to a problem, the ego's investment in that certainty must be set aside in recognition of the supremacy of spiritual power. Ultimately, humility is stronger than willpower, or even faith, because it allows the power of goodness to dominate experience.

Mary Baker Eddy, author of this Web site's guiding reference book, Science and Health points out that often even physical healing requires this moment of "extremity" before becoming realized: "Few invalids will turn to God till all physical supports have failed, because there is so little faith in His disposition and power to heal disease" (p. x). The point may be extended to hopeless political situations, such as the Middle East today.

On these same Middle Eastern sands centuries ago, the Hebrew patriarch Jacob spent a night in abject despair anticipating the approach of an overwhelming army led by his own brother, whom he had betrayed. Jacob had used up all his options—he'd sent his family away and even sent out gifts of appeasement. And yet, he was not at peace. His character, dominated by traits of manipulation and deceitfulness, had yet to be transformed.

The Bible account pictures the transformation process as a wrestling match between Jacob and "a man"—perhaps his better nature. By daybreak, "the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him," and Jacob was defeated.

Literally without a leg of his own to stand on, Jacob conceded to the overwhelming power of his better nature. Later that day an amazing thing happened: rather than with revenge, his brother met him with love and kindness. In a moving moment when they embraced, Jacob acknowledged, "I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me" (see Gen. 32–33).

Are we ready to be amazed again in the Middle East? Now that all the "physical supports" afforded by meetings, proclamations, threats and military force have failed, perhaps it is time to humbly yield to God's "disposition and power to heal" this situation.

The acknowledgment that we all are completely and unconditionally governed by the supreme law of Love, the law that keeps the universe together regardless of how hatred tries to tear it apart, can be the gateway to fresh resolve and completely new, previously unimagined ideas that bring answers of peace.

This article first appeared as "Ready to be amazed again in the Holy Land" on www.spirituality.com. Want to be part of the discussion? Find the article on the site and click on the "post your own commentary" link at the end.