Is a deal to end the war in Gaza imminent?

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