“Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
Our hearts carry unusual weight as Israel approaches the sacred national observances of Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day on April 20-21) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day on April 21-22). These annual days have always stirred deep emotion. But in a period marked by war with Iran and its proxies, continuing regional threats and national strain, not to mention mounting global hate for Israel and Jews, they come with intensified meaning.
For Israelis, these two days are forever linked. We move directly from mourning into rejoicing. We pass from tears into thanksgiving. We remember the price of national rebirth, and then celebrate the miracle of restored sovereignty in our ancient homeland. The transition is abrupt, but profoundly biblical. Scripture often joins sorrow and joy, travail and redemption, night and morning. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)
This year, many families will stand at military cemeteries with fresh grief. New names have been added to the roll of sacrifice. New widows, widowers, orphans, bereaved parents, and wounded veterans bear burdens few outside Israel can fully comprehend. Sirens will sound across the land, and a nation will stand still. As always, cars will stop on highways. Pedestrians will freeze in silence. Heads will bow. Hearts will ache.
Yom HaZikaron reminds us that Israel’s freedoms have never come cheaply. The state was reborn in 1948 amid invasion by surrounding armies. Since then, the nation has repeatedly faced existential threats. Today is no different. Though technologies change and alliances shift, the underlying spiritual contest remains. The enemies of Israel seek not merely policy change or border adjustment, but the eradication of the Jewish state itself. Yet again and again, the God of Israel has preserved His covenant people in the land He promised their fathers.
That does not mean Israel is perfect. No nation is. It does mean that God’s faithfulness, mercy and grace–and administration of justice—are perfect.
The same One who scattered Israel has regathered us. The same God who warned us through our prophets also promised restoration. Against all odds, Hebrew was revived, exiles returned, deserts bloomed, cities were rebuilt, and new discoveries/inventions/technologies blessed nations, as Scripture foretold.
So when the sun sets and Yom HaZikaron gives way to Yom HaAtzmaut, Israelis do something extraordinary: they choose gratitude in the shadow of pain.
Barbecues will light (near bomb shelters). Children will wave flags. Songs will be sung. Families will gather. Parks and beaches may fill with laughter (near bomb shelters). The celebration is not a denial of suffering. It is defiance of despair.
To rejoice after loss is an act of courage.
To give thanks after missiles have fallen is an act of faith.
To celebrate national life while enemies rage is an act of spiritual resistance.
Yom HaAtzmaut testifies that death does not have the last word.
For believers in Yeshua, these days carry added dimensions. We mourn with those who mourn. We comfort the brokenhearted. We intercede for soldiers, leaders, evacuees, traumatized families—and the innocent in Iran, Lebanon and Gaza. We pray for true justice, strength joined to wisdom, and victory aligned with righteousness.
But we also discern a wider redemptive story.
Israel’s physical restoration points toward Israel’s spiritual restoration. The return of the Jewish people to the land is not the end of the story, but part of it. God is gathering, shaking, pruning, awakening, and preparing His people. He is calling Jewish and Arab believers into deeper unity in Messiah. He is confronting the nations with His covenant purposes. He is exposing antisemitism, deception, and pride. And He is summoning the Church worldwide to humble alignment with biblical truth.
How then should we respond this Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut season?
- Remember the Fallen. Pray for families who carry empty seats at the table. Ask the Lord to bind up wounds, sustain the grieving, and reveal Himself as Father of mercies.
- Strengthen the Living. Pray for active duty soldiers, reservists, first responders, intelligence personnel, medical teams, and all who defend civilian life. Ask for protection, endurance, clarity, and moral courage.
- Bless the Nation. Thank God for Israel’s resilience, innovation, democracy, humanitarian contributions, and capacity to absorb exiles from many lands. Thank Him for preserving a people through centuries of dispersion and bringing them home.
- Pray for Salvation. Ask that many in Israel would encounter Yeshua the Messiah through dreams, Scripture, relationships, and courageous witness. Pray for revival in the land.
- Pray for Protection. Iranian threats, proxy terror, and global hostility are real. They are designed to murder, terrorize and intimidate. But they have no ultimate victory. The Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps. The Guardian of Israel remains on watch.
- Pray for the United States. Most Americans do not understand why the war is important for their country. More and more oppose it and lay the blame on Israel. As the war goes on, antisemitism in the US escalates. May God awaken the US and revive the Church.
Beloved friends, these holidays are not merely Israeli observances. They are reminders to all who love God’s Word that history is moving under divine supervision. The headlines are turbulent, but heaven is not anxious.
This Yom HaZikaron, we will mourn appropriately.
This Yom HaAtzmaut, we will rejoice wholeheartedly.
In both, let us proclaim that the Holy One of Israel is faithful from generation to generation. Am Yisrael Chai! Because He lives, the people of Israel live!
From Kerry:
Someone asked me today “How do you feel about the ceasefire?” Honestly, I was not sure to what they were referring. Did they mean the ceasefire with Iran from June 2025, or the one from April 2026? Or were they referring to the ceasefire with Lebanon (Hezbollah) from November 2024?
Perhaps they are referring to the one that is reported as being on the way today or tomorrow. (Nobody really even talks about the ceasefires with Gaza (Hamas) that were instituted in January 2025, and again in October 2025.) Or, were they actually referring to the next, soon to be announced ceasefire with Iran that will take place after the present ceasefire expires in one, two, or three weeks.
I wanted to answer that I felt confused, angry, sad, encouraged, betrayed, and more. Usually being a man of few words, I answered “I don’t know. God is on the throne.” From what I can tell, I think my emotions reflect those of many Israelis, including believers, as we cling to God’s Word the best we understand.
Daily Life Returns, Sort Of
Israelis have been told that they can sort of go back to real life as if none of this had happened. Unless you live in the North. There, you are supposed to send your children a half-day to school located inside a bomb shelter, and keep your fingers crossed as you transport them to and from.
You can work, if you have a bomb shelter nearby that is unlocked.
School, work, shopping, construction, congregational life, and maybe even coffee shops… just getting back to normal life for most of the nation. Everyone wants to go back to normal life, whatever that is. If you live in Beit Shemesh, Rishon L’Tzion, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nahariya, and other places “normal life” may mean that your residence was destroyed in the recent weeks.
Streets are less crowded. Tourist buses are no longer seen. People are on edge, wondering when the next shoe will drop, and hoping it is not before Shabbat shopping is completed, an important but already postponed doctor appointment, or a conference concluded. In Jerusalem the shuk (outdoor market) is bustling. And the value of the shekel keeps increasing along with the Israeli stock market. Go figure.
But what if you happen to “accidentally” read or hear a news report, which is confusing at best, and rarely encouraging. Is there uranium in Iran? (I thought, or President Trump once said, that we destroyed the uranium in Iran.) Will there be uranium in Iran? Will the US remove uranium from Iran? Is it even reachable? Will oil be shipped again from the Middle East, or will the Iranians use every ounce of their strength to destroy that possibility and bring the entire world to a stop? Is the US blockade good, bad, effective, or is it really all about China? How many soldiers died in southern Lebanon today?
What is one to do?
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Some have great faith in God, and are gathering again, resuming full activities, entirely confident they will be safe. Others have modified their schedules, or remain indoors altogether. Again, there are geographical considerations, and nobody should be judged for their choices. In fact, even during the height of the Iranian missile barrage, some flaunted the government’s recommendations and did what they wanted or, in the case of believers, felt God said to do.
A few days ago Israel observed Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day devoted to remembering the six million who died as well as those who survived. As the generation of survivors gets smaller and smaller with the passage of time, so does the extended shadow of the darkest hour in Jewish, if not human history. Yet, Israel—and Jewish people everywhere—are increasingly worried as the scope of worldwide antisemitism grows.
Despite how I may sound, I’m encouraged. First, Israel reflects God’s gracious restoration of our people to the good land He has stewarded us. God established and re-established this nation here, on this spot, for His plans and purposes. I do not believe He will allow it to be destroyed. Secondly, the resilient nature of the Israeli people is so profound that it instills confidence. They will not allow themselves to be brought down, even as they are being terrorized by their enemies. It really is a feature we do not see in the West. Third, hopefully people will recognize their great need for God.
Sandra adds a fourth: She envisions and prays in faith for the downfall of the Iranian regime and jihadi Islam—at least for a season. She foresees the possibility of a type of Isaiah 19 highway across the Middle East, allowing the Gospel to reach masses of Muslims and many Jews. She also foresees this culminating in an eventual anti-Christ scenario amid mounting antisemitism. But first, a hopeful period of cessation from war and prosperity in the region.
So, we sit, wait, pray, hope, and live. After all, what is the alternative?
How can you pray? Among many other passages of Scripture, Ezekiel chapters 36 and 37 serve as an appropriately targeted springboard to intercession for God’s covenant restoration of His people. These are key promises to cling to. We know that Israel’s restoration is not without contention at seemingly every turn. Daily our tiny country is forced to defend against terror and war from every imaginable direction and dimension, including militarily, traditional and social media platforms, international lawfare, economic boycotts, attacks in cyberspace, arson, flotillas, and of course, warfare in the spirit realm. But, a promise from heaven is better than gold.
Please pray according to Zechariah 12:10, that “I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” Is this not the most important thing that can happen in Israel?
I have personally been led to pray that we, individually and as a nation, would receive the grace to walk through the sacrifices that may be required of us for His plans and purposes to be fulfilled. Israel was created to glorify God. It’s sufferings and victories need to glorify God. Pray for the grace to be dispensed and received for that to happen.
There are other ways, of course to be praying for Israel and the nations assailing her? A few of many relevant Scriptures include Isaiah 28:14-19 and 8:9-10; Psalm 2, 33:10-12, 83, 118:8-14 and 129:5; Daniel 2:21 and Proverbs 21:1. We are also stirred to be praying the Iranian regime will make a very big mistake that will backfire and cause its demise (Jeremiah 49:35-39).
But above all, pray that God will be glorified in the earth.
The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him. Nahum 1:7
(Photo above is AI Generated, Chat GPT)