If you follow the news, you know this has been a terrible week for the people in Afghanistan. The long expected American exit from Afghanistan commenced and chaos ensued. The images from the airport in Kabul were horrifying. Men, women, and children fleeing for their lives from the Taliban, desperately clamored for passage to a safe place. There were some so desperate as to grab ahold of the wings of an aircraft hoping, by some miracle of strength, they would be enough endure the flight by hanging on. Of course, their strength failed. Images of them falling from the sky haunt our conscience. There are reports of human remains being found in the wheels of aircraft, mothers trying to pass their infant children through razor wire fencing for safety, and people being crushed in a stampede of bodies trying to escape. What is unfolding in Afghanistan is a humanitarian disaster.
The reason for the desperation and fear in Afghanistan is the oncoming rule of the Taliban. We remember the Taliban and not fondly. They were the ones who were the host for Al Qaeda, the organization responsible for the 9/11 attacks. We have come to know the Taliban as ruthless, remorseless, monstrous, malignant. Some have said the Taliban have an 8th century mindset. No, the 8th century was more humane than the Taliban. The Taliban stone women on trumped up charges. They kill gays for simply being gay. They will dismember their opponents and hold executions on a soccer field. There is nothing in the ideology of the Taliban that is good. Their ideology is devoted solely to implementing their twisted version of goodness onto the populace. Submission to their ideology or death are the only options. From every outside appearance, they have extinguished the light of good and love in their souls.
Christians, women, and those who worked with the recently fallen government face gruesome deaths. Already there are reports of Christian missionaries receiving letters reading, “We know what you do. We know where you are.” Officials from the previous government are already being hunted for vengeance. There are reports that executions have already commenced. Women have already been beaten by Taliban soldiers outside the airport in Kabul.
The desperation we see can be met with a sense of hopelessness. The events may be seen on the screens in our living rooms, but the events are occurring a continent away. What can we do? For the Christian, hopelessness is never an answer. We do not give in to despair. We call on our Savior to intervene. Prayer is the natural response of the believer to any dire situation. While how God works in response to prayer is a mystery, God most certainly does work in conjunction with prayer. Now is a time for believers in Jesus Christ to turn to God for help.
There are some very specific requests you can make now. Pray for the safety of the believers in the region. There are organizations whose mission is to help believers escape persecution. You can pray for their success and support their efforts. There are groups of retired military officers who are using satellite technology to alert those fleeing the Taliban the location of their checkpoints. You can pray for them. You can pray for the treatment of dissenters. Pray that they will be kept safe. You can pray for the treatment of women. The Taliban treat women as if they are chattel. They are disposable assets at the whim of men. Pray that the treatment of women will substantially improve.
You can pray for our leaders. Elected officials in the United States and around the world need wisdom. The situation is deteriorating rapidly. There are thousands of people to evacuate. This is a substantial logistical challenge. It needs to be handled with great skill. Pray that our leaders will have the wisdom to execute a plan to rescue the many who are stranded. More than just our elected officials need our prayers. There are military leaders, leaders of non-government organizations, and diplomats all over the world involved in this rescue operation. They need our prayers as well.
Jesus said many things that are difficult. Among them is His command to pray for our enemies. That does not mean to pray for those we hate. Believers in Christ forfeit their right to hate at the cross of Jesus. No, we pray for those who hate us. So, we are to pray for the Taliban. Left to my own devices, I would never do such a thing. I might pray for God to smite them, but I would never pray for them. Because of our faith in God though, we can pray for certain outcomes for them. We can pray for a change of heart. We can pray that they would cease their monstrous behavior. We can pray for a birth of conscience. We can pray that the love of God would transform them into different kinds of people. We can pray for the end of the ideology that has taught them to hate.
We also pray for Justice. God is Just. There is no injustice in God at all. So, God will do what is right. God is the God who sees everything, even in Afghanistan. There is no outrage or atrocity, there is no abuse or mistreatment invisible to God. God will grant justice. God will heal wounds. Sometimes we are able to see justice in this life. Sometimes justice awaits the life to come. Whenever it comes, God’s justice is absolute. It is for us to pray that God’s justice comes speedily.
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