Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals,
in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.

So goes a portion of Psalm 146, words that jar me a bit on the day that President Obama will formally announce a troop increase in Afghanistan. Over the centuries, Christians have struggled to define when it is appropriate to resort to military force. Some traditions are pacifist, but my own has tended to embrace military action within the limits of so-call "just war" theology. But though I am theologically comfortable with the notion of a "just war," I struggle with how we are to know when to trust God, and when to take action ourselves.

One of those quotes from the Bible that isn't actually in the Bible goes, "God helps those who help themselves." But still the Bible does present us with a tension between dependence on God alongside personal responsibility. When are we to act, and when should we patiently wait, placing all trust in God? And especially when it comes to killing people and sending our soldiers to be killed, what would God have us do?

Whether or not a country goes to war is as political a decision as one can find. But for people of faith, it is surely as spiritual a decison one can imagine. When does trusting God above all, when does loving God and loving neighbor, call us to kill?

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