Lebanon (MNN) — A year and a day ago, Hezbollah fired rockets over the Lebanon border at Israel. Israel was still reeling from the October 7 Hamas attack the day before; it had formally declared war on Hamas and begun airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
Months of tit-for-tat rocket fire ensued. In September, Israel began a new level of strikes against Hezbollah. The group has sustained the loss of many of its leaders since then, including Hassan Nasrallah.
Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon wants people to remember that Lebanon is caught in the middle of a war not its own.
“I think people think that this is a war between Lebanon and Israel. It’s not,” says Nuna. “It is Israel against Hezbollah, because the Lebanese are not involved in the war whatsoever. The army is not involved, [nor] the politicians.”
Lebanon in Old Testament prophecy
Israel’s targeted strikes on Hezbollah have displaced one fifth of Lebanon’s population in the past two weeks. It’s a massive crisis, yet Nuna says Christians see hope in these events from passages in Scripture.
(Image courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon)
“There are promises in Isaiah — in Isaiah 29 especially — about Lebanon. [It says], in a very short time Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field,” Nuna says.
She points to the events of the past weeks as that “short time.”
“Lebanon now is not the Lebanon [of] two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, we had Hezbollah having the upper hand. They were like the upper force in the government. They could prevent a president [from coming] into power. They could do lots of things,” Nuna says.
“But now, two weeks later, this force has been weakened in such a way that leaders [are] not there. The ones that are trying to become leaders or trying to take some type of authority in it are being killed. So they don’t have the same power anymore.”
This change has led to calls for Lebanon to elect a president, which it has not had since its former president’s term ended in 2022.
Hezbollah fighters train in southern Lebanon, May 2023. (Photo courtesy of Tasnim News Agency/Wikimedia Commons)
For now, Nuna asks for prayer that Lebanon’s leaders will remain on the sidelines of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. Pray for the potential presidential election. Pray for God to make the Church in Lebanon to stand as a light.
Pray also for the people who make up Hezbollah, who seem to be a part of the passage in Isaiah 29:17-21 as well.
“[Isaiah 29] says in that day, the blind, or those who are veiled, those who are living in darkness and gloom, will understand the words of the scroll. They will hear it and they will understand it. We believe [these are] all these Muslim nations, especially the Hezbollah people, who have been under a veil, who have been indoctrinated, who have been under such a darkness and gloom,” Nuna says.
“This is what we see. This is the reason for our hope now. [It] is like, God is shifting the nation.”
Header photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon.
