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<\/a><\/p>\nI love the way God uses the Bible to introduce Himself to us.\u00a0 It\u2019s there in every book, on every page and in every story.\u00a0 Almost like God whispering to our hearts, \u201cThis is Who I am.\u00a0 These is My characteristics.\u00a0 These are the things you can expect Me to do.\u201d\u00a0 Take 2 Chronicles 16:9 for example, \u201cFor the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a mouth full.\u00a0 God tells us that He is active, attentive, alert at all times.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Well, so that He can prove His might, His power and His strength on behalf of those who love Him.\u00a0 What a promise.\u00a0 What a God\u2026<\/p>\n
I thought of this verse \u2013 and its implication \u2013when reading the story of Col. Ofer Winter, a brigade commander in the IDF\u2019s Givati unit.\u00a0 Earlier on during Operation Protective Edge, as Hamas broke the first cease fire and a ground operation in Gaza seemed inevitable, Col. Winter sent his battalion and company commanders an official message, \u201cHistory has chosen us to spearhead the fighting (against) the terrorist \u2018Gazan\u2019 enemy which abuses, blasphemes and curses the God of Israel\u2019s (defense) forces.\u201d<\/p>\n
The message sounds familiar.\u00a0 Because it echoes the words of Israel\u2019s great shepherd king spoken thousands of years ago as he stood facing the giant Goliath.\u00a0 We all know the story.\u00a0 The colossal Philistine warrior challenges the army of Israel to send their bravest man, their fiercest warrior, to face him.\u00a0 The outcome would decide the battle.\u00a0 But nobody steps forward.\u00a0 Until forty days later when a young shepherd named David brings his soldier brothers a care package from home.\u00a0 Again Goliath repeats his taunt.\u00a0 But this time David replies, \u201cWho is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?\u201d (1 Samuel 17:26).<\/p>\n
It is the same faith, the same commitment to the God of Israel that Col. Winter\u2019s words echo.\u00a0 Because in the rest of his message he calls on the God of Israel to \u201cmake our path successful as we go and stand to fight for the sake of your people of Israel against a foe which curses your name.\u201d<\/p>\n
It looks like Col. Winter isn\u2019t afraid to speak out for what he believes in.\u00a0 In an earlier interview with an Orthodox magazine, he shared about a tradition he has of sending his men into combat with the same blessing that the priests spoke over the army of Israel before going into battle.\u00a0 He also told of his belief that God often used times of war to reveals Himself through miracles.<\/p>\n
Col. Winter got some criticism for his message.\u00a0 A lot actually.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not my concern here.\u00a0 As far as I can see, the important part of his story came later.\u00a0 In Gaza.\u00a0 When Col. Winter and his men experienced something that could only be attributed to God\u2019s divine protection.<\/p>\n
It started with what should have been a predawn mission.\u00a0 The soldiers needed the cover of darkness to hide them as they got into position.\u00a0 But the raid was postponed.\u00a0 The sun was about to rise.\u00a0 Which would leave all the soldiers exposed in broad daylight.\u00a0 But out of nowhere, a thick fog covered the group, giving them the necessary cover to get into position.\u00a0 Only when all the soldiers were safe did the fog lift.\u00a0 Col. Winter has no other explanation, \u201cIt really was a fulfilment of the verse, \u201cFor the Lord your God is the One Who goes with you to give you victory\u201d (Deuteronomy 20:4).<\/p>\n
I agree.\u00a0 It is a fulfilment of that verse.\u00a0 But in this story I also see the fulfilment of something else.\u00a0 Because God promised in 2 Chronicles 16:19.\u00a0 He is active, attentive, alert at all times.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 To prove His strength on behalf of those who love Him and put their trust in Him.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Elisabeth Hinze I love the way God uses the Bible to introduce Himself to us.\u00a0 It\u2019s there in every book, on every page and in every story.\u00a0 Almost like God whispering to our hearts, \u201cThis is Who I am.\u00a0 These is My characteristics.\u00a0 These are the things you can expect Me to do.\u201d\u00a0 Take more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[129,370,148,625,130,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-2165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorial","8":"tag-god","9":"tag-god-protects-israel","10":"tag-idf","11":"tag-israeli-news","12":"tag-miracles","13":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2167,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165\/revisions\/2167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}