How quickly the mood can change. Just a week or so ago there was real hope amongst many that change was coming to Iran. There was fear of course and distress at the brutal response from the Revolutionary Guard. However, I think many saw parallels with the Arab Spring and going back further, the fall of the Iron Curtain in response to people led uprisings. Then there were the words of President Trump, the warnings to the regime and the promises to protestors that help was coming.
Then something changed or so it seemed. Trump did not follow through on action. Perhaps he was talked round, perhaps his advisors pointed out that it simply wasn’t possible or maybe his attention was turned to other matters. Whatever the reasons, the help did not come. Maybe he is just delaying and maybe the help will come later. However, I suspect many Iranians are feeling betrayed right now. It is better to promise small and deliver big than the the other way round.
Whilst Trump has claimed that the regime complied with his demands and ceased the executions, the reports we get from Iranian brothers and sisters here are very different. Stories of door-to-door execution parties, of relatives called to identify loved ones in body bag filled rooms and charged for the bullets. The stories are distressing but more so that we feel like we have no words to console brothers and sisters who have lost loved ones. All we can do is listen and weep with them.
So I wanted to say three things in this article. First to ask you to joining me in committing that we will not betray our brothers and sisters. It is easy to lose interest in one crisis as things seem to settle down and as the story disappears from headlines to be replaced with news about Davos and Greenland. Please stay focused on what is happening and please keep speaking up from our brothers and sisters in Iran and those with us here in the UK. Keep checking in on church family. Don’t stop listening, don’t stop weeping. Most of all, keep on praying.
Secondly, I want to say something about Jesus. He is the only one who does not let us down. He will never betray. Rather, he was the one who was betrayed. But we can so easily map onto God, our perceptions and feelings of others. Just as it is hard for those who have experienced cruel or absent fathers to see God as the good heavenly Father, so in the same way, when we experience the delays and let downs of earthly leaders, we can project that onto God. Is he delaying, has he lost interest, has he given up. This can happen in general and can happen in specific circumstances like this.
We pray for an immediate end to the bloodshed, the fall of the regime and justice for evil doers and we want to see that happen now. It’s right that we state clearly our hearts desires. However, God’s ways are perfect and so we need to keep trusting him knowing that true justice and restoration comes in his perfect time. The Ayatollahs and the Revolutionary Guard may think that they can escape human justice but they cannot escape God’s justice.
And so thirdly, I want to encourage my brothers and sisters from Iran to keep trusting Jesus, stick near to his cross. He alone is the answer to all that you face.
Faithroots 