One of the negatives of the information age is immediate access to the worst of humanity – in this case, graphic images of unspeakable cruelty and barbarism being carried out on innocent men, women, and children.
Dr. Alex McFarland says it can be overwhelming.
"In the West and around the world, people are seeing news reports that are very troubling and can be very long lasting in their impact on us," he acknowledges. "It is traumatic to see these news reports and the genocide and the terrorism being carried out by these Islamic Hamas warriors."
He adds, however, that the atrocities of war are nothing new.
King David, for example, saw plenty of them, but he was still able to pen Psalm 23 about how the Lord restored his soul, comforted him, and promised goodness and mercy. "He makes me lie down in green pastures," David wrote.
"We turn to God," McFarland states. "The Bible says that God is the God of all comfort. The Bible says that God cannot only forgive and restore; God can heal us."
In addition to Psalm 23, he says Hebrews 13, which promises Jesus Christ will never leave us or forsake us, and Matthew 6:8, which says God knows what we need even before we ask, are some other go-to passages on which he leans when the fallen world begins to overwhelm him.
