It is officially October 7 in Israel. On that bright Saturday morning in 2023, Israelis were just awakening to Simchat Torah, a celebration of the Torah. Families and communities planned to gather at beaches and parks across the nation to enjoy festivities, and a large group of young people sang and danced at a weekend music festival near the Gaza border.

Without warning, over 5,000 Hamas operatives and Palestinian citizens stormed the border, entered Jewish communities and that music festival site, and began killing, raping, burning, mutilating, and torturing Israelis. By day’s end, over 1,200 Israelis lost their lives and another 250 or so were kidnapped and taken into captivity in Gaza.

The next day, Hezbollah joined the fray by firing rockets into Israel from the north, and soon the Houthis were firing from the south and Iraqi radicals fired from the east. Six months later, Iran launched a barrage of over 300 rockets at Israel.

Following that fateful day, most nations expressed support for Israel and acknowledged their right to defend themselves. Yet, within weeks, European nations and even the US began decrying Israel’s aggression toward “innocent” lives in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. Support for Israel waned, and media perpetuated the “Palestinian myth,” convincing people that Gazans are somehow oppressed and “occupied” by Israel. (There is not a single Jewish person living in Gaza.)

Meanwhile, hundreds of young Jewish children battle nightmares and mental torture as they cope with what they witnessed, missing parents or siblings, and the abuse suffered on that horrible day. Hundreds of families are evacuated from their homes near the Gaza Strip or in northern Israel because they either don’t have homes to go to (near Gaza) or their neighborhoods are under attack from Hezbollah (in northern Israel). Parents face unimaginable fatigue as they try to make life as “normal” as possible.

God’s Word is clear: We must stand with Israel. We are commanded to bless them (Genesis 12:3), comfort them (Isaiah 40), pray for them (Isaiah 62), be watchmen on the walls for them (Ezekiel 33), and defend against division of their land and scattering of their people (Joel 3:2).

But there is another command the Lord gave us regarding Israel. I highly encourage you to read all of Romans 11, then focus on verses 11-15, which says:

¹¹ I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. ¹² Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! ¹³ For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ¹⁴ if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

Christian friends, God’s command is for us to provoke the Jews to jealousy! Why? Because, though the Messiah came to the Jews first, we were allowed to be “grafted in” to the olive tree (salvation through the Jewish Messiah!) God’s command is that we provoke the Jews to jealousy so they, too, will welcome THEIR Messiah and come to salvation as well!

There are unnumbered ways to provoke them to jealousy, but I want to offer one very tangible way: come go with me to Israel in February 2025. This is not a tour, but rather an opportunity to roll up our sleeves and serve the very people God desires that we provoke to jealousy. What better way to provoke them than through being the hands and feet of Jesus! In doing so, we serve them, we comfort them, we pray for them, and we bless them! Just as God commands!

This journey is not for everyone. Many are fearful, and some have no desire to visit the land of Israel. But for the 10-15 we will take with us, blessings will abound. Projects will include simple things such as sitting with and encouraging displaced families living in hotels and visiting Holocaust survivors who are now surviving another attempt at destroying them. Other projects could include things such as preparing food boxes for those in need, refurbishing bomb shelters that have been hit by shrapnel and are in need of sprucing up, serving meals to soldiers away from their home bases, helping out on farms or in fields where needs exist, and many more opportunities.

No one will be required to go into areas they are uncomfortable going, and we will closely abide by any warnings given by the Homefront Command. There are “safe pockets” all over Israel, and much of the humanitarian work is coordinated from those areas.

Costs and details are not firmly established yet, though I expect the trip to last about 10 days and cost slightly less than a regular tour. We likely won’t have a firm itinerary, as needs and opportunities change day-to-day. I am definitely going with or without a group, so if you or anyone you know are interested, please email me at Looking4theBlessedHope@gmail.com and I will be in contact with you.

Meanwhile, pray for Israel today, and if you know a Jewish person, please send them a note of encouragement. You have no idea how alone most Jews feel, and hearing that Christians stand with them brings unimaginable comfort!