Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.” Psalm 122:6-7
I do pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but I don’t know how to write about it for a blog. It’s such a political issue, and tensions and opinions soar. I guess that’s a good reason right there to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Frankly, when it comes to politics, I say to myself, “Keep your eyes on Jesus.” God reigns. Period. When I look at politics more than just to get a quick report, I tend to stumble into worry and thinking that people are more powerful than God says we are. God’s in control. I would do well to begin and end with that.
As for the peace of Jerusalem? If God is in control, why does He tell us to pray? There’s a theological question of great proportions yet to be fully answered by anyone, His ways being higher than ours and all.
For me, I see that God is patient and keeps contending with man, but He won’t contend forever (Genesis 6:3). So I pray. I also see that He loves me and wants to fellowship with me, hang out with me, and share His heart with me. So I pray. And while He’s contending and while He and I are fellowshiping, I understand how much He loves peace and Jerusalem. So I pray.
And as I pray, I see too that His plan from the beginning of time, to make us one in Him, to commune with us in a garden, involves His chosen people to whom He gave Jerusalem. And in scripture, I see Jerusalem is not just a place, but a representation of His people. And as a Gentile saved through the sacrifice of Jesus, I am grafted in (Romans 11:13-24). I am chosen by Him. I am a part of this Jerusalem. For Jesus is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). And I see the bigger picture.
I pray for the peace of Jerusalem. I pray for the salvation of Jerusalem. I pray not just for physical peace, but that Jerusalem would know her Messiah, that the Bride would be restored to her Bridegroom. That we would be one in Him and that we would commune and fellowship and hang out with our God.
That we would know peace first in our hearts. Then we would see peace with our eyes.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem…for the sake of our brothers and sisters and our friends. I will now say, “May peace be within you.” (Psalm 122:8)
