Recently Israel’s youngest hostage, Kfir Bibas, turned a year old. He has spent 1/4 of his life in the custody of brutal animals that kidnapped his entire family that horrific day in October 2023.

If not for Kfir, his big brother, 4-year-old Ariel, would be Israel’s youngest hostage. Mom and Dad (Shiri and Yarden) are also captives. To my knowledge, it is unknown whether or not the family is being held together or separate.

But I wonder:

• Did Kfir learn to walk in the tunnels where evil is perpetuated?
• Did he learn to summon “Abba,” or were his first words in Arabic?
• If Kfir learning to play with blocks and putting things in containers, or have the monsters tied a green headband around his head (as they do their own), representing a Hamas warrior?
• Who does Kfir recognize as his family?

As horrific as their captivity is, I pray the family is being held together. I pray efforts of torture and demoralization are thwarted. And I pray continually that, somehow, compassion overtakes the captors. As with all 130+ hostages, they need to be home. But until that occurs, I’m asking the Lord to thwart evil and replace it with decency. Only God can do that.

The Bibas family is the representation of dozens of other families in the midst of the hostage crisis. Please pray for the hostages and their families, and please pray for miraculous mercy by the captors.