Russia has spent the better part the last few years displaying varying levels of aggressive behavior toward other nations. Obvious examples are the March 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and Russia-sponsored military action in Eastern Ukraine. Less publicized has been Russia’s burgeoning relationships with other West-suspicious states such as Iran and China and Vladimir Putin’s support for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The overall picture is one of Russian antagonism at best and outright hostility against NATO states at worst. The trend continues unabated, prompting some to suggest that we’re in the earliest stages of a new cold war.

Sam Jones, defense and security editor for Financial Times, reported that “in total, Nato aircraft have had to conduct emergency deployments on more than 250 occasions this year over Europe . . . the highest number for an equivalent period since the end of the cold war” (“Nato Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Aircraft,” July 30, 2015).

He said that this includes “two of the largest interceptions over Eastern Europe since tensions with Moscow began to rise” in early 2014 (ibid.)

The geopolitical landscape in Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and increasingly in North America is steadily growing in instability. Instability leads to conflict, and conflict leads to peril.

The schemes and plots of the nations of this world will ultimately come to nothing, however. God’s will and purpose will stand to the exclusion of all others: “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:10-11).

Put your trust in God and pray fervently for His will and purpose in the world. (Source: Financial Times.)