What Is War Good For?

In this episode of Wake Up, Look Up, Pastor Zach reflects on a recent international conflict and the lessons it offers about anger, disagreement, and the consequences of escalating disputes. Drawing from Proverbs, he explores why pursuing understanding and dialogue often leads to better outcomes than rushing into conflict. This episode challenges listeners to consider how they handle tension in their own relationships and to seek wisdom before letting disagreements spiral.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Zach Weihrauch

Follower of Jesus who has graciously given me a wife to love, children to shepherd, and a church to pastor.

What is Wake Up, Look Up?

Check out new episodes of our daily podcast, Wake Up, Look Up, with Zach Weihrauch as he interprets what's happening in our world through the lens of the gospel.

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, what is war good for? And it's prompted by an article I read recently in the New York Times looking at the new ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran. I'm taking the title, of course, from the song War. What is it good for? Because the question stands. You know, recently, when President Trump started a military conflict with Iran, it was because we were pursuing regime change. Remember, he told the people of Iran to rise up, that now was their opportunity to overthrow the fundamentalist religious regime, and that was leading it. He talked about having an Iran in the Middle east that was friendly to the United States, having greater access to the resources and the oil that was available to the United States in this region. Well, now, after all of the military conflict, lives lost, dollars spent, we're really right back where we started. The ceasefire agreement really does not give a lot of new ground to the United States States. the Strait of Hormuz is open. Of course, it was open before. Iran has agreed not to pursue nuclear weapons, but still to enrich uranium. In fact, their agreement about uranium levels is pretty reminiscent of their agreement with President Obama, which Republicans blasted but did not require any military conflict to get. the situation, in other words, hasn't changed. The fundamentalists religious regime is still in control of Iran. All the lives lost, all the money spent, all the damage done, and in the end, really for no reason. Now, I understand when global leaders like President Trump decide to undergo military conflict, they can't possibly know the direction that it's going to go. But in retrospect, I think it's fair to say that the military conflict the United States pursued did not accomplish what they would wanted it to accomplish. And in essence, in the end, it would have been better simply to go to the negotiating table without the conflict. Proverbs 17:14 says it like this. Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam, so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. In other words, the writer of Proverbs is saying, once you start a fight, you really don't know where it's gonna go. So far better to actually fight, find a way through instead of fighting. Look, this is less about the United States and Iran and certainly less about politics than it is about a life lesson that you and I can learn. Because President Trump jumped pretty quickly to military Conflict the way you and I tend to jump to anger, to harsh words, to drawing hard lines, to severing relationships. But the writer of Proverbs says, well, once you do that, you can't walk it back. And once you do that, you don't really know where it's going to go. So instead, as we might tell a toddler, use your words. I find in that a pretty good challenge, because I'm not immune to anger, and I'm not immune to thinking that taking a hard line stance is going to make my kids do what I want them to do, win the fight with my wife, or achieve an outcome at work. But very often it doesn't. In fact, often it makes the situation worse. It amplifies the current problem. And so I'm looking at this situation and saying, I need to learn from this. It is far better to actually sit down and have a conversation, to hear the other side out, to try to find a compromise instead of doing all that damage with my words, having the damage done to me, only to still find myself at the same table, having the same conversation we would have had before. The world would be a better place, and your pocketbook would be a better place if we had never undergone military conflict with Iran, because all the damage done wouldn't have been done, and probably we would have still ended up right where we are. M. I'm not justifying the Iranian regime or the atrocities that they do. I'm just saying they're gonna stay who they've been, regardless of the last month and a half of military conflict. So let's you and I at least learn this on a personal level. Let's engage in dialogue before we pursue a conflict that very well may do nothing. Hey, thanks for checking out Wake Up, Look Up. For more content, be sure to visit the Christ Community Chapel app or our website cccapel.com.

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