Documentaries can be fierce beasts. They can portray extremely intense and long events in a short period of time. The documentary about Tarawa is an example. The documentary explains the Japanese fortifications that were built on a small atoll to the point that the Japanese believed 100,000 men could not take it. America sent over 10,000 men who took it in four days. The destruction to man and property is/was beyond description. 

The battle does not end when the guns stop firing. The battle includes the horrible scars done to the insides of the men who fought there and could never forget what they saw, and all the other horrors of the aftermath. This was just one piece of a much greater war.

Over 4,600 Japanese defenders and 978 Americans died in four days of fighting over an area of land that was less than one square mile in size. You could walk the full circumference of the island in less than four hours.

 Saying they died does not do justice to how they died, what was done to their bodies, and what was happening to the men as they killed each other or what impact the event had on those who survived. The amount of shells and powerful equipment destroyed was in like proportion. The bombing and shelling of the island was the most ever done to that point and occurred before the men reached the beach. The island and all its structures were plowed by the bombing and shelling. 

So, why bring this up? Because it is an image, a powerful image, that can be related to the damage done inside the soul of a suffering human in a battle in this war we call life. “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” John 3:12 ESV.

How big and complicated are the insides of a human? How many worlds are carried in one life if you include the thoughts, emotions, beliefs, dreams, and experiences each human has? How much territory is covered on the insides of a person when it includes even the element of time, making all times and territories covered within relevant to the current experience? Their current moment includes all their past and present, and to some degree, their hopes/plans for the future. Each person is like the Tardis from Dr. Who. They are much bigger on the inside than they are on the outside.

We have oversimplified people to the point that we can excuse our lack of compassion, our lack of love because we only see them in this moment without all the details. We have no knowledge of the horrible damage that has been done to any small atoll in the broad expanse of their life and the pain there that may be active in their actions today. We are all at war spiritually.

It may seem reasonable to excuse unforgiveness because we don’t know and possibly don’t want to know that the pain inside them may be far worse than the pain they have caused us. We do not see the war going on in them as the Lord wars against the principalities of darkness that would consume their souls. Compassion is the ability to see internal wars and be able to care for people as they fight their internal wars. Failure to have compassion and to forgive is a failure to see that the Lord is at work on that soul for its healing and redemption — even as He is at work for our soul’s benefit.

Tarawa was a pin point in a greater event. It was life changing to those involved. It was life changing beyond its small place and time. It consumed the location and the people involved, but not the whole of all things taking part. It was one place for nations and economies to be involved. How much is any part of our life worth? How much does any part of our life influence and shape the rest? We are too big to understand and too much with which to grapple.

It takes the Lord in our lives for us to begin to see in and beyond our limitations. It is the Lord in our lives who teaches us to care for others beyond the superficial things which are easy to see and not a true image of the whole person. Learning to love is hard work, a battle, a freedom, a connection to the purpose of Jesus.