4 Minute Devotions: Georgia on My Mind

The Russian invasion of Georgia has deeply affected me. Why is God once more allowing nations to go to war?

Podcast version here

Proverbs 22:3 A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.

The people of Georgia are on my mind today. I don’t mean the Southern State; I’m talking about the sovereign nation in Eurasia, where Russian tanks invaded last Friday.

I can remember reading somewhere that history repeats itself when we don’t learn from our mistakes. This Russian invasion reminds me of when Hitler entered the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and when the Soviets invaded Hungary. The world did little about those situations – one caused a world war and the other started the Cold War.

I don’t want to go back to those days of fearing a nuclear holocaust, and I don’t want my children to feel the same. Georgia is on my mind today, so I pray that the world will come to its senses to put an end to this invasion and fighting. If not, then we seem doomed to go through another Cold War of distrust, suspicion, and insecurity.

I sometimes ask God why humans are so intent on killing one another. Throughout the world, hundreds of thousands of people are killed each year by other people. What other creature on earth does this? Why does God elevate us to divine heights and allow us to bring ourselves down into inhumane hell? Why doesn’t God stop this, punish the wicked, and recreate a new world where peace, harmony, and love dwell? Is God sleeping or is He crazy, expecting things to be different, by allowing us to do the same things over and over again?

I don’t understand it and I want God to intervene, but that would mean giving up free will and bringing history to an end. Things look bleak for the Georgians and perhaps there will be no easy solution to this crisis. All that I can do is wait and pray, hope and ask God to deliver the Georgian people from the Russian invaders. But why do I feel as if I’ve been here before? Why does this seem to be divine déjà vu?

Prayer: Lord God, history is a great mystery and sometimes the living of these days is hard to endure. We pray for the people of Georgia and we ask that You protect them. We do not know where these events are taking us, but we claim safety and refuge in You alone. Help the world heal. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Daily Devotions: The Watchmaker

As a boy, I was fascinated with a watchmaker's store in Glasgow, Scotland. When I entered the store for the first time, I saw a faded picture of the watchmaker standing in Red Square, Moscow with the Kremlin behind him.

What was his intriguing secret?

Podcast version here

Jeremiah 51:50 “You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and think on Jerusalem."

His watchmaker’s store was right beside my bus stop for going home. Whenever I went traveled into Glasgow’s City Center, I would get off the double decker bus at this store. There were lots of second hand watches in the window and you could see the watchmaker busy working each day. He had microscopic eyeglass to see the working of each watch and he delicately held small instruments in his hand.

On rainy days, when I stood waiting for my bus home, I watched him studiously and was fascinated by his craftsmanship. Sometimes I was so mesmerized by what he was doing that I almost missed my bus. I wanted to own a watch, so that if it ever needed repair, I could come into his shop and have the watchmaker fix it.

Years later, I got that opportunity. I had one of those old digital watches that blinked red lights to indicate the time. I needed to have the battery changed and so I entered the watchmaker’s store for the first time. It was quiet and peaceful. On the wall behind the watchmaker was a faded photograph of him standing in Red Square with the Kremlin in the background. And when he asked me what I wanted, he spoke to me in broken English with a heavy Russian accent. I was amazed.

I showed him my digital watch. He just shook his head, took it from me, and quickly fixed it. I could sense his frustration and, as I handed over the money for the battery, we both realized that the world was changing. Within a couple of years, his store was gone. I guess people didn’t need his services anymore.

I think he must have missed being back in Russia. I didn’t know what brought him to Scotland and sometimes I wonder if he was an ex-spy, on the run from the KGB and protected by British Intelligence. Whatever made him leave his native land, he still remembered it and even though he was in a Western land during the height of the Cold War, he must have kept that photograph proudly displayed in his store for years.

When Jeremiah preaches to his people, they all know that they are going into exile. The Jews of that time believed that God was tied to the land, so when they left the Holy Land, they thought that God wasn’t coming with them. Jeremiah’s prophecy was a clarion call to his people to keep the Lord and Jerusalem in their hearts, no matter what they experienced or wherever they ended. In other words, he was telling them to keep the faith.

In the midst of our own trials and troubles, sometimes remembering God and keeping the faith can be hard. But if the spiritual experiences of many millions of people over the centuries is anything to go by, those two precepts are extremely helpful, supportive, and encouraging.

Prayer: Lord God, You are the One, Holy Constant throughout Time. Across the history of the world, Your Presence has strengthened and uplifted our people. We pray that in our own trying times, we may also depend upon You to deliver and sustain us through our troubles. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.