“Where was God?”
You’ve no doubt heard the news, the United States of America--the richest and most fortified Super Power in the entire world sustained an almost unthinkable attack. In this anonymous and brutal act of aggression, the very symbols of our vast economic wealth and unparalleled military strength were both casualties . On Tuesday morning, September 11, people all over the globe stopped what they were doing as the news of this catastrophic event was broadcast with live video footage revealing a scene that appeared to be what many would consider Apocalyptic in nature. As most of the civilized world listened to and watched as the twin towers of the World Trade Center burned, none were prepared for what came over the air waves next; the military nerve center of this mighty nation, the very backbone of protection for the free world, was exploding into flames--the Pentagon had been hit. As these events unfolded while being simultaneously witnessed by people around the country and around the world, many questions were being asked; who was behind these terrible acts? why wasn’t our military intelligence prepared for this? and could this be just the beginning of a massive and invasive attack, were
these explosions intended merely to distract our attention and clear the way for an even more damaging assault-- possibly even a nuclear strike? For security reasons, the President and his family were wisked away into seclusion causing many people in this country began to fear what might come next.
But after a very long and intense day, after all other planes were out of the sky and the situation seemed to be stabilizing, Americans returned to their homes only to see the horrific events of the day replayed over and over again from all angles and every prospective. The fear we had for our own lives was finally subsiding, but now we were almost forced to witness again and again the deaths of thousands of innocent people. We watched in disbelief as ghostlike forms were running out of the collapsing buildings and
onto the street....as men and women, desperately trying to escape the inferno hurled their scorched bodies out of broken windows over a hundred stories up. We try to imagine the terror that must have been felt by those police, firemen and rescue workers as they looked up only to see that this massive structure was crashing down upon them.
And finally, when the smoke had cleared and the harsh reality of what had just happened sank in; the question most asked by the majority of the Christian world was; where was God? Why didn’t the Almighty God of the Universe step in and put a stop to this senseless tragedy? Where was God??
This is a question that every Christian needs to be able to settle in his or her own heart---our inability to understand why our God allows such terrible things to happen cannot be permitted to weigh so heavily upon the it chips away at our faith...... for our faith is the very foundation of our relationship with the Lord. We can read book after
book and listen to sermon after sermon but we will never be given a concrete reason why our Father in heaven permits such anguish to reach His beloved children. It is for good reason that God Himself says this; “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways....As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is.55:8,9) NIV
As I have been constantly praying for the victims of this terrible tragedy and our nation’s leaders......I have also been praying for those of us who are left to carry on--for those who may be wondering if there even is a God. And as I was praying the night after the attack, God--who always answers prayers-- unmistakably revealed to me that I
was to deliver a specific message to you this morning. But at that moment, He gave me only the title which is printed in your bulletins today; “Where was God?” It was by pure faith that I immediately accepted the task, knowing that I had not a clue as to how to even begin. But now, after considerably more praying, studying and listening, I will attempt, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to relay to you what He has relayed to me in hopes that it will help you answer in you heart this burning question; where was God?
Why our God of love and mercy would allow such terrible things to happen is not by any means a “new” question......for the minor prophet Habakkuk inquires of the Lord over 2500 years ago with these words; “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but You do not listen? Or cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds...” and the last part of verse 4 says; “The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.”
After the heavy-hearted prophet pours out his complaint before the Lord, he is given basically the only answer ever given to anyone asking the same question; God answers him and says; the enemy is puffed up and his desires are not upright-- but the righteous will live by faith.
The definition of faith given to us in Hebrews chapter 11:1 reads; “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Given that, we need to realize just what it is that we hope for and try diligently to focus on what it is that we long to see.
I saw a woman on the news the Sunday morning after the attack. One of the towers had collapsed with her husband and father of her three children inside. This woman, though understandably shaken and heartbroken, exercised an amazing amount of faith. With her three small children beside her, she told the news reporter with tears; “I don’t know why this happened--why my husband and their father was taken away, but I do know that one day, if I look hard enough, I will see the good that is sure to come from this tragedy.”
You see, she knew and claimed the promise of Romans 8:28 which states; “All things work together for the good of them that love God.” Through faith, this lady was certain of that which she could not see. And without her realizing it, the good was already starting to emerge from that pile of twisted steel and pulverized cement because especially
now, she and countless others were depending solely upon Jesus for strength just to carry on.. and the more we depend on Him for strength and comfort, the closer we walk with Him. The testing of her faith actually strengthened it and subsequently brought her into closer communion with the Lord. Turn with me if you will to Paul’s letter to the believers at
Rome chapter five. Romans 5:1-5
“1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And
we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Of course, sometimes the trying of our faith has quite the opposite effect....life’s trials and sorrows can serve to reveal that we have very little faith. But this is usually the case when don’t really know the Lord or if our relationship with the Him is casual instead of intimate. This is also true in our human relationships, very few of us truly trust people we don’t know--that’s a fact that is easily demonstrated by the locks on our doors and the guns in our closets. We don’t trust strangers.....we need to know--develop a relationship with someone before we will give them our trust.
There was a gentleman that made a very strong statement on a television special about the day of the attack. He said that; “We usually try to trust in God for our protection, but it’s plain to see that God didn’t protect anyone that day....” What do you think about that? Is this an accurate statement? Was God really turning a blind eye to what was happening that day, didn’t He care?
Brothers and sisters, let me help you to understand a little bit about God’s providence and protection; we think Osama Bin Laden and his many bands of terrorists are hard to put our hands on.... we think the fight against terrorism will be a difficult struggle--even for the strongest military force in the world.... But did you know that there is a
much greater force out there than these terrorists seeking to destroy us? Listen to what Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12; “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Now can guns and missiles protect
us against these forces of evil? Hardly.
Now, I am aware that President Bush is a Texan and we all know Texans are known for thinking big....But the statement he made to the nation and to the world in response to the attack was very optimistic to say the least. Maybe I didn’t hear him right....and correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t he say that we were going to, and I quote; “rid the
world of evil.”?
Brothers and sisters, we would be terrified if we could only see the many spiritual forces of evil all around us wanting nothing more than to control or destroy us! But since we can’t see these spiritual forces of evil, and since we don’t see how God is constantly protecting us from them.....we sometimes don’t realize that He is protecting us at all. We need to know without a shadow of a doubt that it is only by the grace of God that we draw our next breath or that our hearts continue to beat. I believe that when we get to heaven and begin to look back on our lives as the heavenly hosts saw them, we will be amazed at just how many times a day that we were safeguarded by divine protection. So, I’ll
have to disagree with the statement that God didn’t protect anybody on that terrible day because by faith, I know that He constantly sustains all life for He is the Author of life.
By now you’re probably thinking, that may be true Dwight but you still haven’t answered that question that you promised that you would answer....where was God Tuesday morning, Sept. 11 when thousands of people were needlessly killed by a handful of terrorists? Where was God when death separated husbands and wives, children and parents, brothers and sisters... leaving an aching void in the hearts and lives of those still living?
Well to help us understand, lets read the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John 14:15-20
John 14:15-20
“15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him,
because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”
This is perhaps the most comforting promise in all of scripture; Here, Immanuel--whose very name means ‘God with us’ reassures those for whom He gave His life, that He will forever and always be an intimate part of our lives-- in fact He said that, for those who would have Him, He would actually be INSIDE OF US.
Where was God? Isn’t it obvious? He was with those people on the planes that turned into flying bombs. He was in the man and wife on the floors above the explosion in the North Tower who held each other tightly as they leaped together to their death . He was in the rescue workers who were running into the doomed building as others were trying desperately to make their way out. Where was God? He was in those men who overpowered the terrorists aboard United Airlines flight 93 and prevented the deaths of probably hundreds more innocent lives. If we look, we will see Him in the people standing in the long lines all across the country waiting to give of their lifeblood to save people they don’t even know. We see Him in a nation coming together to comfort and pray for one another. I still see Him as plain as day in the faces of those big strong firemen who can’t even begin describe the tragedy they’ve seen firsthand without breaking down in tears of sympathy and compassion.
So often when we are grief-stricken and facing many trials and heartbreak, we fail to realize that God too is deeply saddened and shares our pain. It reminds me of a close personal friend of Jesus who suffered and died even though Jesus Himself had the power to prevent it all, but for reasons that we have to accept by faith, He allowed His friend Lazarus to die. And when Jesus came to the place where the family was mourning, when He saw the tears of Mary and Martha, we are told in the shortest verse of the bible
that “Jesus wept.” Friends, we need to realize that Jesus came to personify or to show us in Himself the Father Whom we cannot see. And so here, at the tomb of a common man, the Almighty God of the universe wept because He felt the pain of the grieving family.
As long as we live on this sinful planet, we might as well face the fact that we will suffer many trials, pains, and afflictions but in the face
of these sorrows, let us have the attitude of the apostle who likely suffered more than any of us....Paul says in 2Corinthians 4:16-18; “...let us not lose heart. Though outwardly
we are wasting away, yet we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
I think the words of this very familiar poem are quite fitting to include in our message today:
“Footprints”
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he
was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints
in the sand; one belonging to him, and the
other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before
him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path
of his life there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the
Lord about it. “Lord, you said that once I decided
to follow you, you would walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most troublesome
times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when I needed you
the most you would leave me.”
The Lord replied, “My son, My precious child, I
love you and I would never leave you. During
your times of trial and suffering, when you see
only one set of footprints, it was then that
I carried you.”
Brothers and sisters, we live in the time of earth’s history when everything can change in the blink of an eye--whether for good or for bad. And even though God sometimes
allows bad things to happen even to His children ..,causing them and He Himself tremendous sorrow, He promises that even out of the worst of trials--even when we are forced to walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, that He will accompany us and will somehow turn it around for the good of those that love Him.
In the wake of this terrible disaster, which could be only the beginning of a chain reaction of other calamities to come, our President George Bush tries to comfort our citizens with the words of the apostle Paul from Romans 8:38;
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
You see, Jesus too was allowed to suffer heartache and pain beyond anything we could ever imagine. And now He who suffered and died for you and me wants to be the shoulder we cry on and the hand that helps us back to our feet. We need not drown in our sorrows or be imprisoned by fear for Jesus came to “heal the broken hearted and set the captives free.”
Where is God today? He is one of two places..... He is either now living inside of you where He is giving you strength, courage and hope.....or He is at your heart’s door knocking and waiting for you to hear His voice and let Him in. (Revelation 3:20)
May God bless you as you continue to seek His face.
