Desolation, Decimation, Devastation!

​Since 2014, what consistently is the third most terrorized country in the world? To find your answer you would want to look up the Global Terrorism Index (GTI).  This is produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) based on data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD).  This data is collated by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) led by the University of Maryland. As late as 2017, because of persistent Boko Haram and Fulani militant attacks, Nigeria ranks as the third-most terrorized nation.  Only Iraq and Afghanistan rank higher in carnage.[1]  

Nigeria’s Fulani Tribe is one of the biggest tribes in the north and is considered the largest nomadic ethnic group in the world.  Because of persistent drought conditions, the Fulani, with their expansionist agenda, have migrated into the Middle Belt of Nigeria and increasingly attack the Berom people and other minority tribes of the middle belt in order to take over their ancestral lands.  The Berom and other ethnic groups are mostly Christian farmers and their lands are damaged by the free grazing cattle of the Fulani on their farms.  To make matters worse, the Fulani are largely Muslim. There is a religious fanaticism that furthers their brutal attacks on villages where women and children are routinely butchered by machetes and bows and arrows.[2]
 
Meditation
Nahum 2:10—Desolation, decimation, devastation!  Hearts melt, knees tremble, loins shake, every face grows pale!
 
Recently, twenty-five minutes from where Jerry, one of our First Cause leaders lives, the Fulani slaughtered Christians living in the city of Jos. We, who live in relative peace, have little idea of the fear that is generated by knowing that at any time an unprovoked attack may occur while worshiping in church or sleeping at home. Until Jesus returns, suffering is a frequent ingredient in the diet of God’s children.  Desolation does not mean that God does not care.  Decimation does not indicate He is powerless. Devastation does not show He is not present.  These are the byproducts of man’s rebellion against God.  

Light shines most superbly where it is darkest.  So let us resolve to pray for our brothers and sisters who live out their faith in places where to identify with Christ is a ticket to martyrdom. Eventually faith will result in eternal peace but until that day it is fashioned through pain.  We dare not be ignorant of what is happening around the world because our faith can just as surely come under attack in the land of the free and the home of the brave.  If we are not concerned about what our remote family is suffering, we fail to help them and, in so doing, our testimony is weakened.  May God protect our Nigerian family and bring those who are bent on destroying them to faith in Jesus, the Savior of the world.  
 
Inspiration
All arguments in justification of suffering provide bitter resentment against the author.—C.S. Lewis in The Joyful Christian
 
©2018 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)
 
 

[1]http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2017/11/Global-Terrorism-Index-2017.pdf
[2]https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-nigerian-war-thats-slaughtered-more-people-than-boko-haram