Peace on Our Borders

Yesterday was one of those surreal days, wanting to check the news to see if anyone has fired any missiles that we can't take back, being swamped in the daily tasks of meetings, and wondering if I should be doing any prep work in advance of a possible nuclear exchange.

But what prep work would that be exactly?  Should we start digging a hole for a fallout shelter?

 

Oh, wait, we're only 20 inches above sea level--we're doomed if survival means we need to go underground.

 

This morning I was reading the morning prayers in Phyllis Tickle's prayer book, The Divine Hours.  Part of the prayers for this morning came from Psalm 147, and I was struck by this language:  "He grants peace to your borders."

 

It's interesting to read this language in the context of our modern geopolitics.  We need peace on everyone's borders, because conflict so easily splashes over to affect everyone.

 

I felt such a yearning well up when I read that passage.  I said a prayer of my own:  "Yes, come Lord Jesus and grant peace to our borders."

 

What will today bring?  Will we really go to war over Guam?  I am hoping that we will all do as we have done in the past:  walk back from the brink.  I am not sure that the leader of the U.S. and the leader of North Korea are actually capable of backing down.  This is not a situation that makes me rest easy.

And yet, as I look back over history that has happened during my lifetime, I know that God can use the most unlikely people to bring about peace we never would have believed possible.  Let it be true this time too.