September 11, 2001
This is what the LORD says,
he who appoints the sun to shine by day,
who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar--
the LORD Almighty is his name:
"Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD,
"will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me."
Jeremiah 31:35-36
It's hard to know what to say today... my mind has reeled as I've struggled to comprehend the tragedy. I was in the middle of my time with God this morning when a coworker called to have me turn on the news. I had been reading through Jer 31:35-40 and seeing how the destruction of Jerusalem caused a crisis of faith for people. They wondered if God was powerless? Was he unable to do anything? Our conference here on the west coast was cancelled and we spent the day watching the news in stunned silence. The sheer magnitude of the disaster, so many innocent people, our vulnerability individually and as a nation exposed and felt deeply, the uncertainty and unpredictability of life slaps us in the face and challenges everything we hold dear. Conversations have been amazing... many people struggle to see and understand God in the midst of tragedy What to do with it all? The answer lies in the verse above.. very simply that God is in control. There is much that we cannot fully understand or comprehend but we can rest secure in the fact that our lives are in the hands of God. The God who has done amazing, incredible things in the past, things that we can look to in order to gain confidence.. He has worked through unthinkable tragedy to work good in the world. It will be a very long time before the images of today are erased from our minds but it will be even longer that we look to how God worked through the tragedy. It has already brought world leaders together to stand unified against terrorism, the American people have responded in an incredible way, many of those who came to help have given their lives to save others and the President quoted part of Psalm 23 in his address to the nation tonight.. we have already glimpsed God beginning to work through this tragedy.
"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret--it leads only to evil.
For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land."
Psalm 37:7-9