INTRODUCTION
It all started out as a normal Tuesday morning for many Americans. People got up and got ready for work just like ever-other normal Tuesday morning. There were people who were getting ready to take flights just like any other day. That morning, I woke up and went to the High School for my morning walk, as has recently been my habit.
As the whole nation was preparing for a normal day, something tragic happened that would change the very fabric of our nation. This terrible tragedy begged the question, “Where was God?” Even people who normally would not acknowledge God’s presence with us was asking this question.
At approximately 8:50 a.m. Eastern Time Zone American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 with 81 passengers, 9 flight attendants and 2 pilots aboard, headed from Boston to Los Angeles crashes into World Trade Center, the northernmost of the twin towers.
Where was God?
At approximately 9 a.m. a second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 headed from Boston to Los Angeles with 56 passengers, 7 flight attendants and 2 pilots strikes World Trade Center, the southernmost of the twin towers.
Where was God?
9:38 a.m. American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 with 58 passengers 4 flight attendants and 2 pilots, heading from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, crashes into the west side of the Pentagon, where about 20,000 people work, including most of the nation’s highest-ranking military officials.
Where was God?
10:09 a.m. World Trade Center (the southernmost tower) collapses.
Where was God?
10:30 a.m. World Trade Center (the northernmost tower) collapses.
Where was God?
10:42 a.m. United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 with 45 people aboard headed from Newark, NJ, to San Francisco, crashes in Somerset County, Pa.
Where was God?
911 2001, a date that will live in infamy for all who witnessed or who were affected by the cowardly acts perpetrated against thousands of innocent American citizens.
911 2001 started off like any other ordinary Tuesday morning throughout America.
Was God with us before 8:50 a.m. Eastern Time? What happened to God after 8:49 a.m.?
Today I am going to take us to a few passages in the Psalms to bring some perspective to this question. I love to go to the Psalms for answering some of the tough questions of life like this because when many of the Psalms were written, they were written in the midst of crisis. Psalms like Psalm 51, which David penned after Nathan the prophet, confronted him about his sin. Others were written as Saul was unjustly pursuing David. The Psalms cover the full range of emotions from love and joy to anger and fear, from stability to insecurity. They range from praising God to questioning God. From running from God to seeking comfort from God.
This recent tragedy has affected the whole nation, today let us see if we can find out where God was during this tragedy and where He is during our personal tragedies.
SERMON
I. THE QUESTION- PSALM 10:1-3
To start off, let’s turn to Psalm 10:1-3. In Psalm 10, the Psalmist is asking the same question that we are and have been asking of God, “Where are you?”
Verse 1
Verse one wonders why God is standing off in the distance during our time of trouble? We are not sure what the circumstances were when this Psalm was written, nor do we know who wrote this one. This Psalm seems to be written at a time when the author felt some distance between himself and God during some trial in his life.
This Psalm seems like a good one for the present situation in which we deal with because according to verse two, the problem the writer is facing seems to be caused by some wicked enemy who is pursuing the author and causing him trouble.
Verses 2-11 describe the character of the enemy that is being dealt with. Look at verse 9.
Why do you hide your face?
This is the same question that Job asked in Job 24 where he asks why God seems to turn His back when wrong happens.
Many people are wondering even today how a loving God could allow some psycho terrorists to destroy so many people.
911 2001 would rank up there as one of the worst days in this nations history with the exception of the civil war.
"Things are never going to be the same in this country again," said lawyer Alan Krauss, 48, watching the ruins of the Trade Center from a bluff in New Jersey. "This is the worst day in the history of our country, with the exception of the Civil War." Some feared his qualifier would prove unnecessary. Until Tuesday, the bloodiest day in U.S. history was Sept. 17, 1862, when about 4,700 Union and Confederate soldiers died in the Civil War battle of Antietam. Pearl Harbor killed 2,388 Americans, and the first day of the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, killed 1,465.
On this horrible day in American history, where was God?
Throughout time whenever tragedy strikes, people want to know where God is during that time? At one time or another each of us has probably wondered where God was.
Were was God during my health problems? Where was God when my spouse or child died in some accident or due to some illness? Where was God when I was being abused as a child? Where was God when my marriage was falling apart?
Where is God in times of trouble? That is the question.
II. THE PROMISE- PSALM 46:1-3
READ Psalm 46:1-3
The answer to the question is that God is still in the same place that He was when things were going well.
God had not changed locations from 8:58 to 8:59 a.m. when the first cowardly terrorist act took place.
Psalm 46:1 tells us, God is our refuge and strength—God is for us as a place to which we may flee for safety; a source of strength to us in danger. The first word, “refuge,” from a verb meaning to “flee,” and then “to flee to”. It also implies to take shelter in—denotes a place to which one would flee in time of danger—as a lofty wall; a high tower; a fort; a fortress.
Psalm 46 tells us that in the midst of trials, we can flee to God. We can cling to Him when everything seems to be falling apart in life.
In the second part of verse 1, it tells us that He is a very present help in trouble. This means aid, assistance. The word “trouble” would cover all that can come upon us, which would give us anxiety or sorrow. The word rendered “present”—means rather, “is found,” or “has been found;” that is, he has “proved” himself to be a help in trouble. The word “present,” as if he were near to us, or close by us, does not accurately express the idea, which is rather, that “he has been found” to be such, or that he has always “proved” himself to be such a help, and that, therefore, we may now confide in Him. The word “very,” or “exceedingly,” is added to qualify the whole
proposition, as if this were “emphatically true.” It was true in the most eminent
sense that God had always been found to be such a helper, and, “therefore,” there
was nothing to fear in the present distress. (Barnes notes on the Old Testament)
This part of the verse means that God has proved Himself over time to be a help to those in need.
We are not sure of the circumstances of this Psalm other than it looks as if Israel is on the verge of being attacked.
I think we ask the wrong question when we ask where God is in the midst of trouble, we need to ask ourselves, “Where are we with God?”
God is always there when times are good and when they are bad. Many people only want to serve a God that keeps them from any harm or that keeps them from having trials in life. Suffering and pain are part of the human experience. It is a thing that none of us want to go through, but we do because it is a part of life.
I find it interesting that many of the people who fought to keep our kids from praying in school and who would love to take God out of our lives and out of the public arena, are some of the same ones who are asking the nation to pray to God during this time.
Where are people turning to when things go bad? They are turning to God in as best as they know how.
God was with every one of those people who died at the hands of the cowards who killed them. Tragedy reminds us that we always need to be ready to die. I bet that not a single one of the people in the buildings who died got up thinking a plane was going to hit their building.
The people who got on the planes did not get on them knowing they were going to die until the plane was taken. By the way, God bless the hero’s on the plane that crashed in PA. Who knows how many lives they were able to save because of their heroics?
We will all die someday unless Jesus returns first. We need to make sure we are spending our life preparing for eternity.
Verse 2-3
When it all seems to be falling down around us, we can go to God for comfort, strength and refuge.
PSALM 56:3-4 says, When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?
911 2001 was a day for many people that the earth shook. Where was God? He was with them through it all. People can kill us, they can hurt us, they can maim us, but they cannot take our soul, only we can give that away.
2 CORINTHIANS 1:3-5 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
III. THE CALL- PSALM 9:9-10
Let us look at Psalm 9:9-10 for a last bit of information that will help us to be able to take advantage of God’s comfort during the trials of life.
Not too many of us are going to have a coward fly a plane through our building, but reach of us will face or have faced our own times of distress.
READ PSALM 9:9-10
This Psalm is a Psalm of thanksgiving for God’s justice. Just as a side note, God knows who was involved in this senseless attack on freedom and those involved will not go unnoticed by God.
Verse 9 is somewhat a repeat of the theme of Psalm 46. But look at verse 10.
PSALM 9:10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.
Those who know God’s name (or who He is) are called to put their trust in Him and we are told that God will not forsake those who seek Him.
Does this mean that we will never face any difficulties in life? Does this mean that we will never be sick or die? No! It means that God will always be with us.
We need to make sure that we are always ready to meet Jesus because we never know when our lives will end. Many of us will live to be old, some of us will die young for disease or accident or at the hand of another.
We need to understand that life is important, but not as important as eternal life.
CONCLUSION
Where is God in Times of Trouble? He is with us as He always is. The better question would be “Where are we in times of trouble?”
There were around 5,000 people who lost their lives in a blink of an eye because some evil people decided they needed to take their lives. 911 2001 is a day that will not soon be forgotten.
Today we offer you the peace and comfort that comes from a relationship with Jesus.
Today, if you are facing your life tragedy, we invite you to come forward so that we as a church family can pray for you and your situation and support you. Don’t walk through your trials alone, let us walk with you.
Next week we are going to look at the subject of why bad things happen to good people.
