On the Other Side of Ruin
Gaza, 2023, after an Israeli strike. Photo from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East. Photo by Ashraf Amra. It looks hopeless, but God always has a long, huge plan. The “map of ruin” When I was a 30-something single adult working in Kentucky, I had a dispute with my roommate and wound up on a friend’s sofa for a few nights. In our discussion, I referenced the Bible narrative in 1 Samuel 6, where the Israelite men of Beth Shemesh looked into the ark of the covenant. The plague-weary Philistines had just expelled it from the land, filling it with an offering of golden rats and tumors. The same plague then spread throughout the Israelite region, killing thousands. I told my friends that night, it seems that a lot of suffering results from frail human flesh looking too deeply into the most profound, holy things of God. There may be a natural, medical explanation for the plague that hit the Israelites rather than a punishment from God, b...