by Barry Howard

He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Isaiah 2:4 NIV

Since childhood, I have been singing and praying, “Let there be peace on earth.” But this prayer has not been answered…yet.  To date, we cannot identify an era in human history when the world was completely devoid of conflict or warfare.

On the second page of Genesis, the paradise called Eden is contaminated by sin, and then a couple of pages later, a fatal conflict erupts between Cain and Abel. The notion of war is born.

In the Old Testament, not only is there regional conflict between the Israelites and a variety of enemies, there is also internal conflict between Israel and Judah. This civil war eventually led to the establishment, at least for a few years, of the Southern Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom, often referred to as the Divided Kingdom.  That’s what war does. It rouses suspicion, ramps us rhetoric, breeds hostility, and divides people into adversarial camps like the North and the South.

Fast forward to 2015. This year there are at least 10 active wars and 20 ongoing armed conflicts.  The most lethal war is currently being waged in Syria, an ancient biblical land, where it is reported that over 250,000 people have been killed during the past three years.

But the promise of scripture is that there will come a day when they will transform their instruments of war into tools for agriculture (Isaiah 2:4). Just not yet.

Until then we cannot recline in naïveté. In a world where systemic evil exists, when efforts at negotiation and arbitration have failed, military initiative is often an unfortunate but necessary option to destabilize tyrants, to rescue hostages, and to thwart terrorism. But even then, for civilized nations, the goal is to be protective, not vindictive.

Especially in these days of escalated fear, let us pray for peace, let us work for peace, let us practice peace-making, and let us keep singing:

“Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.”
-Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace this Christmas, let us continue advocating for discernment, containment, peaceful negotiations, and the eventual end of all wars, until that day when peace prevails.

(Barry Howard serves as the Senior Minister of First Baptist Church of Pensacola.)