Remember!

It’s a beautiful place. One that until recently seems to have been stuck in the early twentieth century. Men and women still work the fields by hand, and still drink milk from cows that pasture on their land. I, along with my family, lived in Romania for some 10 years. I got to know and love the people and culture. I learned that modernity lacked some idyllic characteristics of the “good ole days.”

But, amidst the beauty of pastures, forests, and earthly life, are the secrets of the country. Like many people and places, Romania has its secrets. And, after 10 years of somewhat thorough cultural integration, there was one topic that never came up. The historical reality that Romania instituted and carried out pogroms against its Jewish population in World War II. In 1940-1942 the city of Iasi constituted law after law against the Jews, and in the end locally killed some 13,000 plus Jews. Horrific. Yet, today, is is almost as if it is “erased history.” Today, people do not want to discuss the atrocities of past events and how those past events shape the present. 

It seems from the beginning of history, God’s people have been facing one power after another trying to survive. The book of Esther is clear, that if Haman had his way, then the Jews would have been annihilated. And, we wonder why today Israel gets a little unsettled?

However, God was working in that day, and He is still working today. The psalmist asks, “where does our help come from? Why...it comes from God the maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121). 

Let’s not sweep “past” history into the dustbin of “deleted history” as there is still much to learn. Let’s not forget that it is God who bring healing to injustices of fallen humanity. And still protects His people.