As almost all of you are aware by now, Israel and Iran are at war and our country, the United States, has joined the war on the side of Israel and against Iran. The U.S. Air Force and Navy launched a joint attack late last Saturday on three nuclear facilities in Iran. The world is now waiting to see where the conflict will go, if a ceasefire can be agreed upon and upheld, and if a way to peace can be found.

Also, as many, but not all, of you are aware, I am an officer in the United States Air Force Reserves, serving as a Chaplain to airmen like the ones who participated in those strikes this weekend. I find myself in a unique position, knowing that my brothers- and sisters-in-arms are half-way across the world causing death and destruction to our enemies, and that they are also in harms way. Iran has already launched missiles at our troops stationed in Qatar, though no fatalities have been reported, thank the Lord.

I say all this as a reminder that our world is broken. We were not created to war and kill and hate. But because of our sinful nature and selfish choices, we destroy each other when we should be building each other up and glorifying God with our lives. Going back all the way to Cain and Abel, ours is a history of conflict and violence. However, our God is not so, He is a God of peace, a truth I need today.

Isaiah 9:6 names Jesus as the “Prince of Peace,” and in 2 Thess. 3:16, Paul encourages his audience with these words:

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
2 Thess. 3:16
The Bible is full of assertions that God is peaceful, that He “makes wars cease to the end of the earth” as in Psalm 46:9, and that He is able to bring peace to His people. Specifically, He brings us peace when we trust Him, as Isaiah 26:3 says:

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Isaiah 26:3
Finally, the Bible also speaks to the security that God’s peace and our trust in Him brings us. As we seek to trust God with our worries and fears, may we be able to say with the Psalmist:

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.”
Psalm 4:8
The conflict between Israel and Iran may not be on the front of your mind today. It may not worry you all that much or threaten your peace. But I expect that there is something in your life; something that isn’t right, isn’t comfortable, isn’t the way that things should be. I encourage you to invite God into that thing, that circumstance or concern that you have, and to ask Him to do whatever He wants, trusting that He is the God of peace. As we pray for our brothers and sisters and for the peace of our nation and our world, reflect on Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 14:27:

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
John 14:27
God’s Peace and Comfort be with you all,
Noah Wilson

(6/25/25)