Romans 11:23-24 — And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

Recent events in Israel and the Gaza Strip have stirred many anxious feelings, not least in the heart of my beloved Myra. She asked me a simple but critical question — “How come it seems every government is against Israel nowadays?” That led to a long discussion, and some of the topics have no place in an essentially devotional blog. There is, though, a Biblical perspective that every Christian should have firmly in mind.
The scripture is complicated so I’m going to do something I rarely do, and quote from an “easy to read” scripture version. The “Message” translation might not get all the nuances right, but it gets the point across. First, let’s go a bit further in Romans:

… This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it’s all over, there will be a complete Israel. … From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God’s enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God’s overall purpose, they remain God’s oldest friends. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded. (from Romans 11:25-29 MSG)

There’s another key passage in Ephesians, from the Message again:

The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody. (Ephesians 2:14-15 MSG)

Those are a couple of pretty long extracts — but I hope they make the point far better than I could. God has a plan for Israel that is a piece of His long term plan for the redemption of mankind. When you grasp that, you grasp everything. For whatever God is for, Satan is for ever and always against. He will use any weapon he can lay his hands on. And when governments have anything but strong Christian leadership (and believe me, what most — if not all — governments have now is anything but strong Christian leadership!) they become tools in his hands. That is why every government today seems to be against Israel.