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Tears and the Faithfulness of God

January 21, 2025

I have never wept so much in my life as I did on a daily basis in the months following the Hamas terror attack on October 7, 2023. I still do from time to time. And I have to confess, historically, I have not been someone who tears up and cries easily. This is not to say I’m like a robot without emotion, but simply that I typically do not cry at every tragic report or sad thing I encounter. However, the events of October 7 and the war that followed have left me deeply affected and grieving for the absolute pain and trauma this nation has experienced.

In the months since that awful day, I have met with survivors who had loved ones murdered before their eyes. Some held their children to an open window as they gasped for fresh air while their home burned around them. I have sat with people who had family members kidnapped and taken hostage to Gaza, not knowing if they’re even alive. I have met with people who fled for their lives from the Nova festival, one woman watching in horror as her two friends were gunned down while she was shot in the stomach and legs. She told me through tears—while I wept too—how she crawled under a tank holding her bloody wounds and prayed for God to save her! He did.

I have talked with battle-hardened soldiers who told me of gut-wrenching sights they saw while in combat, or how they lost friends. I have met soldiers and security guards who fought for their lives against Hamas terrorists for 24 hours on October 7 and now struggle with PTSD. I have held sobbing Israelis in my arms who spoke of decapitated babies, raped girls and women, or who heard their neighbors burning to death. I stared into the face of a weeping rabbi, a clinical psychologist for children, who said, “All I want to do is cry every day. I look into the eyes of each child and all I see is a black hole.” I held him in my arms as we both cried.

I personally live with the memories of seeing a taste of war with my own eyes, as I drove 500 bags of food down to Sderot on October 9, 2023. At that time, gun battles still raged, missiles streaked through the sky and the sight of burned cars littered the highways. I saw machine-gunned bomb shelters, which had housed frightened Israelis during the massacre, only to become their death-traps. Not all the corpses had even been collected by that time, and it was like an apocalyptic sight driving into Sderot. I, like millions of Israelis, including Bridges for Peace volunteers and staff, experienced time and time again running to a bomb shelter with my frightened children in my arms as missiles were intercepted above our heads.

But I cannot end on this note. Everything you have just read is about darkness, suffering, survival and battling evil. What I have also seen is hope, strength, joy and the faithfulness of God. Since October 7, 2023, I have seen God’s hand in miraculous ways. He is restoring hope in the nation of Israel as people see His hand of preservation. They see the Iranian ballistic missiles intercepted above their cities, an unprecedented thing in modern warfare, and they have hope. They see their people returning to the south and north. They witness the collapse of their enemies as Israelis have mustered together in strength and unity. However, more and more Israelis have testified that it is the God of Israel who watches over this nation and fights on their behalf. It is because of the God of Israel that Israel survives and exists as a nation. It is the God of Israel who is regathering His people back to the Land after 2,000 years. This restores hope, strength and joy. The nation is awakening to the faithfulness of God.

Bridges for Peace is being used in the epicenter of what God is doing. Despite the collapse and confusion of Israel’s enemies, such as the seismic activity of chaos in Syria and Iran, Israel is witnessing Christian love like they have never experienced it in their history.

When Hamas broke through the border and slaughtered countless Israelis, Jews and Arabs, young and old, not one person serving with Bridges for Peace packed their bags and fled. Even when the nations of the world were calling on their citizens to leave Israel, we stayed. Bridges for Peace remained! In fact, we did not just keep doing what we were doing. The Lord emboldened us and opened doors of opportunity to do magnificent, even supernatural things to bless Israelis in their darkest hour.

As millions of dollars poured in from dedicated Christians like yourself, you gave us the ability and the honor to comfort Zion on your behalf. We purchased ambulances,handed out thousands of bags of food and clothing, purchased generators and medical aid, provided bullet-proof bomb shelter doors, grocery cards and appliances. We paid the rent for devastated families, picked fruit and vegetables on farms in the south, invested in security monitoring systems in Re’im (a community that was overrun by terrorists on October 7), brought Christmas presents to Christian Arab children in the north, toured bombed cities with mayors, attended funerals and weddings, sat with families in mourning and much more. We have blessed the people of Israel, but have also counted the cost and stood with the Jewish community in the nations so they do not feel alone.

This is Bridges for Peace! Will you partner with us in these days to make a difference and push back the darkness as we stand in the gap as a light? Let’s bring hope, strength and joy to the people of Israel as we all see the faithfulness of God. Please give to our Crisis Assistance Fund today!

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:13).

With hope for the future,

Rev. Peter J. Fast

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