#sufferinggod

Should Syrian refugees be allowed to enter the United States?  Should we let them in our state?  That is a question we’ve been hearing a lot.  As we think about this question, it is imperative that we search Scripture for the answer. God actually has a lot to say about this question.  Before you move on with your day, I ask that you do a quick google search on “what does the Bible say about Refugees?”  You might be surprised what you find.  God is clear.

About a month ago I went on our Refugee Immersion Experience.  Again, I can’t give much in the way of detail, but I can say that the reality of a refugee is a nightmare.  Jesus is not okay with this reality.  Jesus died so this reality does not have to be a reality.  And then He called us to be His hands and His feet.  What does that mean for you?  

The following is a write up by Jill Briscoe about her experience ministering to Refugees.  Who is Jesus to the Refugees?

In Croatia I was asked to speak to a church gathering for about 200 newly arrived refugees.  Refugees from this area of the world are mostly women because the men are either dead or in camp or fighting.  This group of Muslims, Croats, and a few Serbs had fled to a seminary on the border of a battered Croatian town.  The town was still in danger of sniper fire and bombing, but the church had escaped because there were apartment buildings between it and the guns.  Attackers had tried to fire shells over the apartment buildings to the seminary, but they hadn’t managed to do it, so it became the refugee receiving and feeding place.

We worked all day visiting with the refugees.  At night a service was held in this huge, old church, and I had to speak.  I didn’t know what to say.  Everything I had prepared seemed totally inadequate, so I put my notes away and prayed, “God, give me creative ideas they can identify with.”

I told them about Jesus, who as a baby became a refugee.  He was hunted by soldiers, and his parents had to flee to Egypt at night, leaving everything behind. I could tell people began to click with what I was saying.  I kept praying like crazy.

I continued telling them about Jesus’ life, and when I got to the cross, I said, “He hung there naked, not like pictures tell you.”  They knew what that meant.  Some of them had been stripped naked and tortured.  

At the end of the message, I said, “All these things have happened to you.  You are homeless.  You have had to flee.  You have suffered unjustly.  But you didn’t have a choice.  He had a choice.  He knew all this would happen to him, but he still came.”  And then I told them why.

The caverns below this dank city were horrible. Minato wandered through them, shivering slightly. He wished he could warm himself up, but the jutsu would almost certainly be detected.

                Food....food..why was fishing in Amegakure. Even the rain didn't make the                 turtle feel good with a very empty stomach. There were no edible animals                 in Ame so Isobu was forced out of the concrete village and into the lake                 that surrounded the village. The fish weren't too tasty to eat and with                 Isobu being so young he was yet an elite fish catcher. Energy from                 catching the fish just didn't seem to cut it either, so he was starting to                 lose weight.                 Isobu walked out of lake and walked into the area away from the village                 in hopes of finding something to feed off of. He was so hungry that if provoked                 he could settle for a man to eat. Luckily it seemed it didn't have to go to that level.                 The sound of barking attracted Isobu to a little dog. It was puny, but could be                 perfect for a meal to last for a little bit. Isobu got close to the ground to try to                 hide himself from the dog's view and slowly approached it, hopefully Isobu                 wouldn't scare the dog off with the blood lust he was giving off.                         starter for suffering-god​