The heart of Israel is broken in two. “I’ve gone from weeping to anger, back to wailing, then anger again,” an Israeli woman candidly admitted. Some Gentiles came with smiles, but she couldn’t even bear to see it. Feeling sorrow about her response to those who only meant well, God led her to Isaiah 22 to validate her in the deep distress she was feeling:

Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
    let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
    concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
(Isaiah 22:4)

These are very difficult days not just for Israel, but for many around the turbulent Middle East. The horror show of the Bibas family returning in caskets was for many the last straw. People who were hanging on by their fingertips finally lost their grip. The resolve of those trying to hold themselves together is slipping. The heart of Israel is broken.

“Something snapped in me this week,” said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch. “After 16 months of keeping it together, my heart finally cracked. The plight of the Bibas family struck me so deeply, that I do not even know where to place all of these emotions running rampant inside of me.”¹

In general, the people of Israel are not full of hatred, and the majority long for peace. A huge number are (or at least were) peace activists, going to great lengths to build bridges, find common ground, and heal rifts wherever the opportunity presented itself. But now many hearts — even of believers — are becoming hardened. People are starting to believe the lie that there are “no good people in Gaza”, and are gradually letting go of compassion, unable to hold it together with a heart that has been shattered.

“I’m beginning to come to terms with the fact that I am feeling hate — an unsettling, unfamiliar emotion for me,” wrote Marc Katz in the Times of Israel.²

Of course as believers, hating our enemies is not an option, but the struggle to know how to cope can be overwhelming. We always pray for the hearts of our soldiers not to grow hard, and we endeavor to pray for those who hate Israel so that we can keep God’s heart for them, but even believers are starting to confess that it’s getting harder and harder. With every cynical torture tactic of Hamas, with every protest calling for Israel’s destruction storming through the cities of the west, every church speaking in opposition to Israel, hearts have gradually become calcified, and broken. What is the cure?

Only one can heal our hearts

On the one hand, Scripture did say this would happen. Zechariah prophesied that all nations would turn against Israel eventually (see chapters 12 and 14). On the other, handling the hatred from around the world is something that the people of Israel are expected to somehow absorb. And many can’t cope.

At a conference for 600 Messianic women at the weekend, the largest of its kind in history, pastor’s wife Chaya Mizrachi played a beautiful Israeli song, “HaLev Sheli” (My Heart), which had helped her through some of the pain. It’s not a Messianic worship song, but it’s based on Psalm 30 and the words are so potent and helpful right now. Here are some of the lyrics:

My heart is split in two
What the maidservant did not perceive by the water
Like a storm from the sea, it pounds Like Miriam’s tambourine, it beats
And there is no cure in the world
My heart surrenders I stumble, can no longer stand on my feet
Just a wreck with no purpose
And the skies are like a wall to me
How shall I pass through the sea on dry ground?

Only You can turn my mourning into dancing
To purify the sand [in Hebrew, the word “sand” is the same word for the opposite of holy]
To soften all in me
And only You know how to approach my heart
You lessen any pain within me
You heal my heart.

Only God can do it. Is it time for Ezekiel 36 to break out? Is God going to cause Israel to call out to Him in desperation, so that He can come and heal the broken hearted?

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

Stories of hope and healing

At the “Bat Zion” conference for “daughters of Zion”, stories were shared of wives terrified as their husbands were called up for duty, leaving them with little children and nothing but prayer to hang onto… but they found God delivered them from their fear as they released their troubles to His care, and also had stories of miraculous deliverances from death. The prayers of these women are as powerful and effective — if not more so — than all the ammunition and strategies of the IDF. Ultimately, this war over Israel is spiritual.

One newly married woman had to see her husband go into Gaza, and was so terrified for his life that she started to have heart troubles that needed medical care. Five weeks into his five months of service, she had a profound revelation from God, who encouraged her to trust Him with her family’s safety. “After all, it doesn’t help my husband if I worry, and it wasn’t helping me,” she realized. This woman of valor was led by God out of a prison of sleepless nights and terrorized days. She found peace even in the storm. She found a way to overcome paralyzing fear with the help of her Heavenly Father, and her husband was dramatically saved from a potentially fatal attack on his unit.

Another mother of young children taught them to sing songs of deliverance while in the bomb shelter in the middle of the night. “Is it from Hamas mom? Or from Hezbollah?” asked her little six year old daughter, hearing the bombs crashing overhead. “Or is it Iran?” She shouldn’t have to know about all these things but this is the reality for Israeli children. “No my love this time it’s from the Houthis,” came the reply. “Wow. A lot of people really hate us,” the little girl said in wonder. “But God loves us doesn’t He mom? He doesn’t sleep, does He?” They sang Psalm 121 together about how the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. A little while later that same little girl had been at school when the sirens went off, and the mother wasn’t allowed to come to protect her. In terrible distress she bolted to the school’s entrance as soon as she could, only to be stopped by the teacher. “I just have to tell you about what your daughter did,” the teacher insisted. “She started singing a song about how God doesn’t slumber or sleep, and she taught the whole class. I looked around and they were all singing this beautiful song!”

That little girl, from a family who know their Messiah Jesus, had led all of her classmates to peace by singing Psalm 121 over them, and as they learned it they all joined in.

These are extraordinary times.

The daughters of Zion are learning in more practical ways than ever that God is our refuge and our strength, our ever-present help in times of trouble.

Kintsugi: the gold in the gaps

Kintsugi, or “golden joinery”, is a Japanse method of mending broken pottery. Instead of using simple glue or bonding material, the cracks are filled with gold. The broken vessel becomes more beautiful than it was before. And it seems we are seeing some of this as Israel’s shattered heart is receiving some healing hands of comfort and blessing from unexpected places. It’s like gold.

Even those in Israel’s government have noticed that conspicuously absent from the hatefest against Israel in the media are two big allies: Evangelicals and Iran. Now neither of those groups would have been considered natural allies before October 7. Christians who have done so much to support Israel in the past have been viewed with suspicion due to the persecution of Jewish people throughout church history, and I don’t need to tell you about Iran. Yet it’s consistently been these two groups that have been prominently supporting Israel against the waves of antisemitism sweeping the world with terrifying force, bringing balm to Israel’s broken heart.

More than that, Arab brothers and sisters here in the land have been able to bring comfort and support. Our Arabic outreach team went to serve in a Messianic congregation located in the south of Israel, not far from Gaza. They have experienced continual rocket fire from Hamas for many years, and have suffered deeply. Nizar Francis and others led worship, singing songs of hope and faith over them, while pastor Nader who leads and Arabic-speaking church in the north of Israel came to share about Psalm 23. Someone approached pastor Nader after the service, to thank him for his message and say how much it had helped.

“It was like your words were washing me inside,” she said. It was the first time she had ever been to a Messianic congregation.

There are groups that meet with Arabs and Jews praying together in unity. While we are being pitched to hate each other with greater ferocity, the determination to contend for our unity has become even stronger. We need God, and we need one another.

Israel is slowly realizing: we need God

Even as Israel is in deep distress and brokenness, many are starting to realize that no one can help us but God. Not the army, not the government, not America… we need God.

One of the responses to “HaLev Sheli”, a song written a few years before the war broke out, had previously understood it as a romantic song but now they sing it to God:

“I’ve listened to this so many times. Until now I’d interpreted it as being sung to the person who had caused the broken heart to be the one to heal it… However, I’ve just seen it differently. Who can heal your heart, lessen your pain, turn mourning into dancing? The only one who can sanctify all in me, HaKodesh, baruch hu! [the Holy One, blessed be He!]”

Hearts are opening to God now here in Israel, among both Jews and Arabs. We hear stories of people coming to faith regularly. Even in the Gaza Strip. Despite the commonly repeated phrase “there are no innocent people in Gaza”, there are many. There are hundreds of Christians and also Muslim background believers. It’s so important that our hearts do not grow hard. As believers we must keep our eyes on God, so that we can keep His perspective.

In a dream, or rather a nightmare, a believing Jewish woman saw herself desperately trying to rescue people in the throes of a disaster. In her dream it was an earthquake, but it symbolized the Nova party on October 7 for her. She tried grabbing people to lift them up and prevent them from falling into chasms as the earthquake cracked the ground, but it was hopeless and she kept getting pulled down with them instead of succeeding to pull them up to safety. Suddenly God’s voice broke through: “That’s not how you do it,” He said, before showing her how to first look up to Him, take hold of His strong hand, and then from there she was able to rescue the lost. What a powerful picture of salvation. We can’t help people without Him: we need God.

Please pray for Israel

– Pray for Israelis to look to God — and to find Him! Please read and pray Ezekiel 36 over our nation.

– Pray for broken hearts to be comforted and healed — both Jewish and Arab.

– Pray for unity to grow and strengthen between Jewish and Arab believers.

– Pray for protection, deliverance, and salvation.

– Pray that we would not be overcome with evil, but that we would overcome evil with good, that God may be glorified.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord‘s favor,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
(Isaiah 61:1-3)

1. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/404720

2. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/hamas-has-made-me-hate-how-can-i-pray-for-peace

Picture: Marek Studzinski on Unsplash