The country of Syria is front and center in the media today. They have been in the midst of a bloody civil war for two years that has claimed more than 100,000 lives and produced more that 2 million refugees. There are claims that their president, Bashar al-Assad, used chemical weapons on civilians of his own country. With that news, our president, Barack Obama, has taken to congress a short-term initiative to punish the Syrian dictator.
I am now constantly hearing conflicting reports. I have heard that the rebels were the ones to use chemical weapons to set the president up. Our government is also not sure that we want the rebels to win. The American public certainly does not want to involve our troops in another Middle Eastern crisis. On the other hand, as Christians, we see the atrocities taking place on the news, and we can’t help but wonder if there is something more we can do. There is one thing that I do know for sure… I don’t know all the facts. Syria is a confusing mess with no easy solution. This does not mean that we check out, though. As believers, we must respond.
The country of Syria has a total population of about 21.3 million people. Only 0.1% of that population is an Evangelical Christian. There are 34 different ethnic groups represented in the county. Half (17) of these people groups are considered critically unreached.
It would be easy for us to just let Syria be, but that is not what the Bible teaches us. As Christians, our response should be to engage in spiritual battle. We are to pray. Pray for peace, yes, but more importantly, pray that God would be somehow glorified in this mess. Pray for workers to be sent that will share the good news of Jesus. Pray for the boldness of the few Christians and churches that live there. Pray that God, in His sovereignty, will use this tragedy to make Himself known.
Not too long ago, I met a woman on the soccer field that was obviously of Middle Eastern descent. Her son played on the soccer team that I coached. I asked her where she and her family were from. She said that she was from Syria. I then told her how sorry I was that horrible things were happening there, and that I would pray for her family. She was genuinely moved by that and talked to me for about 20 minutes about her life and family in Syria and how scared she was. Sometimes when we hear the news, we forget that behind all of the rhetoric there are real people with lives, passions, and dreams just like you and me.
Let’s join together to pray for Syria.
God Call 