Crosspoint

Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite under one leader, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be - when God will again plant his people in his land.

(Hosea 1:11 NLT)

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The road here was perilous. A decree had been given and we had been allowed to come back home, but that journey was not necessarily a safe one. For seventy years we had been captives. We had been prisoners. We were strangers in a foreign land. But now we are coming home.

The thing is, as foreigners, as a conquered people we had been tolerated but not really trusted. It has been more than two generations since the last of our warriors put down their swords. And the land we are returning to had been abandoned. It has been overrun by traitors and bandits. How were we supposed to replant multiple thousands of people into such dangerous country we knew only as a memory only as a song and a dream?

It was a miracle that we did it. It is amazing how God protected us. Not just on this return journey, but how He kept us together as a cohesive people group throughout the years of captivity. I pray that we never again have to go through such trials. I pray that never again will we need to be tested that way. I thank God that it is over now. I thank God that we are home.

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The road here was disastrous. The victors, in sympathy for what we went through, have given us back our home. But the cost had been far too high. For centuries we had lived as exiles. Throughout the nations of Europe we lived in ghettos, in separate communities among, but not really a part of our fair skinned neighbors. Most places we were tolerated, even needed, but almost never were we really trusted.

And then came a time more difficult than any other in our long, difficult journey. Rounded up like cattle headed to the slaughter, in Germany and all it's occupied lands we lost hope. Those that tried to escape were hunted down like dogs. Those that tried to help us joined in our fate. The lucky ones were sent immediately to the gas chamber where they met their disastrous end. Those deemed young and strong enough became slaves. As they slowly starved to death they suffered the grossest of all fates, watching friends and wives be beaten and raped, praying it would not happen to them. Always you could see and smell the fires, consuming the scant remains of those who could not make it another day.

It is a miracle that I survived it. It is disconcerting that God allowed this. Yet he has maintained a remnant, not just through this midnight hour, but throughout these centuries of Diaspora He has helped us maintain our culture, our uniqueness, our faith. I pray that we never again will need to go through such trials. I pray that we never again will be hated that way. I thank God that it is over now. I thank God we are home.

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The road there seems never ending. I am still waiting for the King to say, "Now." And I will leave this place. I have been told to count the cost, but too often, I am unwilling to pay it. I am supposed to be a member of the set apart community, but I but we, too often seem to be doing our best to look just like the world around us. Most countries tolerate us, in many places members of our community are in positions of key leadership, but as a whole we are not very understood and many times we have abused the trust given us.

Many times atrocities have been committed in our name, though it was not really us, but those using our God's Name for their advantage. At other times and in other places we were victims of such atrocities as well. Granted, never like was the People of God went through in Germany, but in China during the Boxer rebellion, North Korea, many Moslem nations and others, we have lost thousands, if not millions of our own. We, the Children of God have had to endure, and like the People of God, we have done so and become better for it.

One day a miracle will end this. Until that time He asks us to wait, and to continue building His Kingdom in the here and now. He has kept us strong, not just in this age but in every since He left until He returns. While maintaining true to the essentials, through time our culture, our message, and even our faith has adapted to the times. I pray that it will not be so for much longer. I pray that we can shake off this world like a set of dirty clothes. I pray that the King will say, "Now." I pray for the day when the People of God and the Children of God, reunited under one King, will find their way home.