opinion Israel’s next prime minister needs God’s wisdom – and our prayers

It looks like Israel may have – and I stress the word may – a new prime minister very soon.

Gadi Eisenkot has been given the mandate to form a government.

He now has 28 days to put together a government, negotiate agreements and build a coalition, with the possibility of an additional 14 days if needed.

Being prime minister is an awesome privilege. It is also an enormous responsibility. In many ways, it means being a father to the nation: encouraging where encouragement is needed, exercising discipline when necessary and keeping the entire Israeli family safe and secure.

It means neutralizing threats while knowing that everything you do will be criticized and scrutinized.

It is not an easy task.

That is why we are called to pray for our leaders and those in authority.

1 Timothy 2:1-2

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.”

The Bible doesn't ask us to agree with our leaders, but it does ask us to pray for them.

Leaders can be under tremendous pressure: pressure from within their own parties, pressure from economic or political circumstances, and pressure from world events such as war. With all of this weighing on them, they need the hand of God to lead and guide them. Otherwise, they risk leading the nation in the wrong direction.

When the nation goes the wrong way, we all suffer. It is therefore in our interest to pray for our leaders.

In the past, we saw Yitzhak Rabin willing to compromise and give land to the Palestinians. I believe it was the wrong decision because the land is part of Israel's inheritance and should not be given away.

Can you imagine what Israel would be like today if that deal had gone ahead?

Perhaps Israel would not even exist because of the compromises that would have been made.

Sadly, Rabin was assassinated, and the deal never came to fruition.

Ariel Sharon initiated the disengagement plan from Gaza in 2005, removing Jews from their homes, forcing them to leave their inheritance and handing the territory over to the Palestinians.

Eighteen years later, on Oct. 7, 2023, we saw the largest terrorist attack in Israel's history launched from Gaza.

It was Israeli citizens who suffered the consequences of what I believe was that disastrous mistake.

These are two examples of leaders who, in my view, made the wrong decisions. That is why we need to pray for our leaders.

Lord, we pray for Israel’s next leader. We lift him up to You and ask that he would have the mind and wisdom of God rather than the wisdom of man. We ask for a leader who can bring peace and security and, most of all, who knows Your heart when it comes to the Land of Israel.

Amen.