It was my privilege to share these words of our God with his people eleven years ago, the Sunday after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. By His grace, these words are just as applicable today... ~pb
Disaster Service
September 16, 2001
Struck Down, But Not Destroyed
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Ancient Israel, in the height of its strength, was a mighty, mighty nation. From just a handful of people, hungering and thirsting for freedom, God raised up a great nation – fighting their battles, leading them to a land flowing with milk and honey. God made their kingdom so strong that the people of Israel lived in great peace and safety, and enjoyed a time of unprecedented wealth and prosperity. The Bible even tells us that Israel became so wealthy that, during the reign of King Solomon, “silver became as common as stones” (2 Chronicles 9:27).
But, in the midst of all this great wealth and peace… the Israelites forgot the Lord their God. Instead of worshipping only the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (their forefathers), the people of Israel began worshipping false gods of wood and stone. Instead of using their great wealth to help the less fortunate, the rich people of Israel oppressed the poor of all nations and even ignored the widows and the orphans in their own midst. Instead of looking to God alone for peace and security, the people of Israel trusted in their high walls and their great military might.
God called out in love to His people for years, begging them to repent their evil ways, sending them prophets and godly men. But the people of Israel ignored God’s Words. They killed His prophets. And the people of Israel fell into paganism and unbelief. And eventually, with great sadness and heaviness of heart, God withdrew His mighty hand of protection and favor with which he had blessed Israel for so, so long.
After that, it was only a matter of time. Raiders and armies came from the east to destroy and plunder the nation of Israel. The greatest Israelite city, Jerusalem, was reduced to rubble; its high walls and towers came crashing to the ground. And those Israelites who were not killed in this devastation were carried off into slavery.
Only then, when they saw their beloved city in ruins, did the Israelites begin to see the error of their ways. Only then, when their false sense of peace and safety was shattered, did they once again begin to call upon the Lord their God.
I also believe that God played a great part in the formation and growth of this nation, for our forefathers first came to America to worship God freely and without persecution. From just a few settlers in a few colonies, God in His grace has preserved us in war, strengthened us in peace, and has graciously shaped us into the strongest, greatest nation of our time. In fact, just in this past generation, these past 30 years, God has blessed these United States of America with a period of unprecedented peace and safety. The Berlin Wall fell; decades of cold war and nuclear scares came to an end. Conflicts like the Persian War were resolved so swiftly and with such comparative ease that we grew even more confident and secure in our might. By the grace of God, even our wealth and finances have continued to grow so fast that, even in this brief recession, we still enjoy the greatest economy that the world has ever seen.
But also, in this generation, instead of living as “One Nation Under God”, like the Israelites before us, our wealth and apparent safety have lulled our nation into forgetting the God of our forefathers. In times of great peril and danger, the first Americans bravely confessed, “In God We Trust.” But now, in this generation, we have turned away, and placed our hope and trust in other things. Instead of trusting and worshipping the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the people of our nation now toy with witchcraft, fortune-telling, New Age philosophy, and cults. Instead of using our wealth responsibly, our culture has grown greedy and self-indulgent. Instead of finding our peace and security in our relationship with God, we trusted our advanced technology, our intelligence networks, and our military forces to keep us safe.
As a nation, we have grieved the heart of our God. And, after decades of watching His people desert the faith and empty His churches, we left Him no choice. Our God withdrew His mighty hand of protection and favor with which he had blessed these United States for so, so long.
After that, it was only a matter of time. Our enemies had long been searching for a way to hurt us. On Tuesday, they found it. On Tuesday, our false sense of peace and security was shattered forever in the greatest day of personal disaster that America has ever seen. Until Tuesday, the bloodiest day in U.S. history was September 17, 1862, when about 4,700 Union and Confederate soldiers died in the Civil War battle of Antietam. The sneak attack at Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, killed 2,388 Americans. Even the first day of the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, “only” saw the death of 1,465 brave souls. But this day of horror – September 11, 2001 – has eclipsed them all! Thousands of unsuspecting civilians and hundreds of brave firefighters, police officers, and other men and women in uniform died in just one hour! A tragedy, a brutal attack, that is still too horrific for us to fully comprehend.
And unfortunately, like the Israelites before us, only now, when one of our greatest cities lies in ruins, are we beginning to see the error of our ways. Only now, when our false sense of peace and safety has been shattered forever, are we beginning once again to call as a nation, as a united people, upon the Lord our God.
And now, just like the Israelite prophets Isaiah and Joel before me, it is my privilege to speak God’s words of hope and comfort to you. America, “return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love” (Joel 2:13). “He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:9-11).
Americans, you may think that your world has been changed forever… but I promise you, our loving God has not changed. God did not cause this. The Bible tells us that “[God] does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men” (Lam 3:33). God did not cause this evil, but He will use it to accomplish His purposes. That we might see our world from His perspective. That as a nation we might wake from our spiritual slumber and perceive our reality as it truly is. A reality that challenges all we have ever "known". And… a reality may be upsetting to some, especially those of us who like the idea of being in control of our own lives, of feeling comfortable in our strength.
But the reality of our world is this: we will always have trouble in this life! Our Savior Jesus intentionally prepared us all for the troubles we face in this world, saying, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” (Matthew 24:6-8). St. Peter is even more specific and writes to us all, as Christians now living in the Last Days of the world. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed… If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. (1 Peter 4:12-13, 16).
As long as we live in this world, we will never be completely, absolutely, safe. We all try to be prepared for when disaster strikes. Tornado shelters, auto crumple zones, security guards, and more. These all help. But even in spite of all these things, we can’t shake our nation’s growing suspicion that these will never be enough to help us feel perfectly safe. After all, the World Trade centers were built to withstand the direct impact of a passenger plane. But with all our efforts, do any of our plans completely protect us? No.
In our world today, we need security, not safety. Security actually has little to do with safety. Instead, security is all about faith and courage. There are those people in our nation who live in great safety and prosperity, behind gated walls and security guards, yet their lives are consumed with worry and fear. On the other hand, there are many Christians in our world that live in very difficult and dangerous places, and yet are full of faith and confidence. They have security!
We want to be safe, but it is more important for us to be secure in our faith and find our courage in God. The Bible says, “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever” (Psalm 125:1). Security is not the absence of trouble, but confidence and courage even in the midst of trouble. Those people who have a strong relationship with God have strength and direction and purpose, even in the midst of disaster. As our President Himself encouraged our nation Tuesday night in his address to the nation,
“Tonight I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me.’”
As our President knows, Jesus Christ is one sure thing in our lives when everything else falls apart. By the grace of God, our Savior who died upon the cross and rose again from the grave calls us His own. He, also, has been through the valley of the shadow of death… and has come out the other side, alive! He knows our pain. He knows our fears. And because our Good Shepherd, our Savior and Friend calls us His own, no catastrophe, no terrorist, no force on earth “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Our relationship with Jesus gives us security for all eternity, not merely in the present circumstances. For if you live only in the present, you will be easily shaken by tragedy and heartache, but if your life is grounded in eternity you will stand firm. As Christians, our lives always have that eternal dimension. Nothing that happens here can harm or change the things that matter most to us: our relationship with God, our home in heaven, and joining our loved ones and friends there who have known Christ and trusted in him. Nothing can change those things, and no terrorist can ever take them away. The Bible clearly tells us, “…We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1).
When we have this kind of eternal security through Christ, we are at our strongest when we are at our most vulnerable. In times like these when our illusions are shattered, and when our nation is in turmoil, when we hit our knees in fervent prayer… these are the times when, as a nation, we are the most secure, and when we have our greatest strength through Christ Jesus our Lord. “That is why, for Christ's sake, [we] delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when [we are] weak, then [we are] strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
We have courage, not because we have strength in ourselves, but because we have a God who is powerful beyond words and rules over all the nations of this earth. And in His power, even in the face of tragedy and sorrow, faithful Christians all across America can stand and confess today, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:7-9).
This past Wednesday I had the privilege of worshipping with some of our nation’s senior citizens, even veterans, who had lived through the tragedy and the horror of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. And as we searched God’s Word together for comfort and hope, they reminded me that, at the time, the Japanese thought their successful sneak attack would break the spirit of America. After all, as a nation, in 1941, we were largely unprepared to stand up to their might. Even spiritually, we were unprepared as a people to have our false sense of safety shattered. But not for long. For when we were weak… then, we were strong!
In fact, the forces of evil and oppression have always been underestimating God’s power, and the strength He gives to His people.
2000 years ago, evil men rejoiced to see Jesus, hanging from the cross, dying. They believed that His death would put an end to His teachings, His followers. But they were gravely mistaken.
2000 years ago, Satan and his minions also rejoiced. They thought that their centuries of planning had resulted in the destruction of the very Son of God! But their celebration would be rudely interrupted, Easter morning.
And now, this past Tuesday, evil unbelieving men, even children, danced to see the destruction wrought on America... unaware that their act... would awaken the might and just wrath of a sleeping giant.
This past Tuesday, Satan also rejoiced to see such devastation, surely hoping that such events will drive the people of this great land far away from God in our despair and pain. But Satan is in for a nasty surprise.
God did not cause this evil, but He will use it to accomplish His purposes. To arouse the greatest nation on this earth to do great good, to put an end to those who would use terror and murder for political purposes. And to rouse the people of this great nation from their spiritual sleep, and bring a new generation back to the faith of our forefathers, that we might be, once again, “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
God bless America!
Amen.
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