Daily Devotionals

If I forget you, Yerushalayim [Jerusalem], may my right hand wither away....if I fail to count Yerushalayim the greatest of all my joys (Psalm 137:5-6).

The age-old Jewish vision for the restoration of Jerusalem testifies to the endurance of hope and the power of persevering prayer. For nearly two millennia, pious Jews have beseeched God daily: "Return to Jerusalem, your city of mercy, and dwell within it as you have proclaimed, and build it soon, even in our day, a building forever." Then, through a few days of battle in June of 1967, the Lord responded. Israeli troops recaptured the Old City of Jerusalem from the hands of the Jordanians who had held it since 1948. It had been under continuous Gentile rule since the days of the Roman Empire. When the Western Wall was liberated, the Israeli soldiers wept like small children.

There is a connection between the centuries of prayerful longing and those few days of battle. God heard the cries of his people and responded, even though his response seemed like a long time in coming. A united Jerusalem testifies to Jewish hope and perseverance; but even more powerfully, it displays the faithfulness of the God of Israel, who continues to oversee human history. When the proper time arrives, he intervenes in that history to accomplish his Word.

...actively place my hope in the faithfulness of God, even in areas where he seems to be absent or disinterested.

RR