What to do la?

"Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders." Revelation 5.6

Plenty of head-scratching going on in response to the Taliban's astonishing assumption of power in Afghanistan. One among many sinister predictions is the rise in suicides among ex-service personnel and their families, as they struggle to come to terms with the apparent futility of our mission there. So how can Christians pray into the situation and what eventualities should we be preparing for?

Recriminations will not help but lessons need to be learned: the peril of over-estimating the strength of democracy and under-estimating the power of religious extremism, the danger of intruding uninvited into someone else's sovereign territory...

But the focus needs to be on caring for the needs of victims: those aforementioned ex-service men and women and the current military community, refugees - some of whom will reach our shores and therefore must be welcomed into our homes and those who will continue to occupy their current homes in Afghanistan but face an uncertain future. Let us pray earnestly that God will curb the intentions of the Taliban themselves and, against all expectations, that he will conform their actions to his will, for his protection over their neighbours.

At the end of the day, we are all human-beings made in God's image. We are part of a bigger picture and, one day, we shall all be held to account for our actions. Our judge is also our redeemer, the lion who is a lamb. Things are not what they seem and so let us apply our own resources accordingly...