“WHAT GOOD IS GOD FOR?”
A Service of Remembrance
September 11, 2002
Do you remember where you were one year ago today when the planes hit the tower? I was in a Bible study and someone came in and said that a plan hit the World Trade Center tower. I thought it was a little Cessna plane and that someone had had an accident. We prayed for them. Half an hour later we heard about another plane and it began to dawn on me that something wasn’t right. It was almost a surreal moment. Then when we heard about the Pentagon, we knew the nation was under attack. It is unbelievable that the towers are gone. It’s almost like it really didn’t happen. Do you remember where you were?
Another question that people have had as a result of September 11 is, “Where was God?” My hope for you this evening, having heard the message, is that you will be able to identify exactly where God was. People have asked other questions as well: “If God is so good, how could he have allowed something this bad to happen?” “How involved is God in the world?” Is good more powerful than evil, or are they equal in strength and is there a tug-of-war going on between them?” “If God isn’t able to protect us from this type of tragedy, then what is God good for?”
Perhaps some of these questions are still on our minds. The Sunday after September 11, I addressed them in a message which is available in the back. I am not going to rehash the message, although if you are asking the question, “Why do bad things happen when God is supposed to be good and all-powerful?”, you need to understand the world in a realistic way. There are three things you need to know about the world:
1. It is very good. There are a lot of things that are right in our lives, and September 11 reminds us of those things. Since September 11, we have been able to count our blessings and realize how fortunate we are.
2. The world is fallen. Every aspect of the world is fallen. You can take any system, any government, marriage, spouses, children, nature itself–it’s all fallen and something is wrong with it. People are fallen. People make tragic mistakes, and their ideas can be twisted. Even faith and religion and God can be twisted and formed in such a way that a person can rationalize doing something which God clearly calls evil. If you are wondering what happened that day, God wants you to be ever so clear that it wasn’t him. It says in scripture that he has come to give life and life abundant. It is the enemy–evil itself–that has come to maim, kill and destroy. It was the act of evil men with evil intentions and evil ideas. It was us–it was people being so inhumane to one another.
3. God has given us the promise that if we trust him, he will never allow anything to happen in your life or my life that is unredeemable. He will always turn it to some good. He doesn’t cause it, but he will bring some good out of it. He will buy it back and cause the event to be an instrument in our lives that makes us better people and a better nation. That’s exactly what God did that day, and this evening I want to recount for you the hundreds of stories of what God has been doing in this nation as a result of September 11 to redeem and buy it back.
Ephesians 5:16 is very clear. God’s intention and hope is to redeem the times because they are evil. One of the famous passages is quoted by Mary who has a song in which she recounts that her God is a God of reversals. Men mean things for evil, but God means them for good. Here’s what Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior for he has been mindful of the humble estate of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed for the mighty one has done great things. Holy is his name! His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deed with his arms. He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rules from their thrones. He has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but he has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his humble servant, Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our father.”
Our God is a god of reversals who seeks to redeem the time. If you are asking the question, “Where was God?”, God was right there the morning of September 11. Let me recount a story that I heard yesterday on NBC news. The story is about Stanley Praimanth who is a 45-year-old executive of Fuji Bank. He was on the 81st floor of the second tower but survived. It was his office that the nose of Flight 117 went straight through. He was 20 feet from the nose of the plane, and when he saw it he jumped and somehow survived the impact. However, he was trapped with no way out or over the barrier. He began to cry out to God for help and at that moment a gentleman named Brian was coming down stairwell A. He always went down stairwell B, but in the thickness and the dark he couldn’t see where he was going and found stairwell A instead. At that time, church members had gathered at his home, praying for his deliverance. As Brian went down stairwell A he heard a cry for help and found Stanley Praimanth. He pulls Stanley up and over the barrier, and they went down the stairs to safety and wound up at the stairs to Trinity Church. Where was God? He was there rescuing Stanley Praimanth and a man named Brian.
There is a full-length article in USA Today that recounts the stories of 20 of the 40 survivors who were in the towers before they collapsed. In every one of those stories, each individual who survived cried out to God. The name of Jesus was all through the building. People were face-to-face with God and getting right with him. Forty survivors made it to stairwell B. Where was God? At that moment, he was holding up stairwell B which is at the core of the north tower to save 40 individuals’ lives.
When asked the odds of surviving a building collapse, one person calculated that it was one in one billion. Yet, there were 40 people who survived and there were many others who could have survived except for some men who allowed pride to get in their way. After the initial impact, many bosses told people to go back to work and back to their offices. They chided their employees to remain at work and to go back to their offices on the upper floors of the building. Many people lost their lives because they allowed pride to enter into their hearts–something that God warned us against. If pride is allowed to exist in our hearts, it will not work for our good.
Where was God on September 11? One survivor gave this answer, “I couldn’t honestly say where God was as I stood on the promenade. I don’t expect I’ll ever have an answer for people who ask how God could allow this to happen. The only thing I can say for certain is that I’ve seen him in other places not far from this event in the hundreds of people who lined up to donate blood, so many that the hospitals were overwhelmed; in the people who offered to drive strangers to donation centers; in the people who stood at the east end of the Brooklyn Bridge and offered water to the throngs escaping the smoke in Manhattan; in the man who stood outside his apartment and handed out surgical masks to everyone who passed by; in the churches that stayed open all night for prayer; I even saw him on the evening news in the more than 300 estimated firemen, police and EMT’s who lost their lives to save others. It is far too early to know what long-term implications these attacks hold politically, emotionally and spiritually for New York City or the United States. But right now, we can know that God is with us. He is among us, working through us and thousands of others who may not even yet know him. That knowledge gives us courage to face what comes next.”
There is a story of Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell whose office was the point of impact in the Pentagon. Brian had just left his office to go to the bathroom when the plane hit. He was severely burned but he lived, and this is what he said, “My living through this one is one of God’s many miracles. This test by fire has strengthened our marriage and faith. My priorities have not changed. I’ve just learned to appreciate these priorities more readily.” Where was God on September 11? He was right there, saving Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell and as many people as he could.
What has God done since September 11? One of the obvious things that God has done for our nation is create a greater unity than ever before. People are much more patriotic. On September 12, Wal-Mart sold over 200,000 American flags. There’s a commercial that goes something like this, “On September 11, terrorists sought to change America forever.” Then you see a picture of houses. The next caption reads, “They did.” Every house on the block is flying an American flag. It warms my heart to see Americans united.
Before September 11, our national identity seemed to be disintegrating into little subgroups of color, race, creed and religion. People weren’t neighbors anymore. People didn’t even know their neighbors anymore. As a result of September 11, people are telling stories to one another. In New York itself, people who didn’t know each other were helping each other and becoming neighbors again. Isn’t it a miracle?
One person wrote about poem about what God has done to bring this nation to a point of unity:
“As soon as the soot and dirt and ash rained down,
We became one color.
As we carried each other down the stairs of the burning building,
We became one class.
As we lit candles of hope,
We became one generation.
As the firefighters and police officers fought their way into the inferno,
We became one gender.
As we fell to our knees and prayed for strength,
We became one faith looking to one God.
As we whispered or shouted words of encouragement,
We spoke one language.
As we gave our blood in lines a mile long,
We became one body.
As we mourned together the great loss,
We became one family.
As we cried tears of grief and loss,
We became one soul.
As we retell with pride the sacrifice of heroes,
We become one people.
We are Americans.”
MSNBC took a poll asking people how their lives had changed since September 11. Michael Sean’s response was typical. He is 27 years old and said this, “I used to be oblivious to the outside world. September 11 made me study all the conflicts in the world. I now live in a real world, but fortunately the evil in the world that I must acknowledge only makes me appreciate the good more. Being an American is no longer a given. It is a supreme privilege.”
If there is anything that September 11 has done for us as a nation, it has made us appreciate what a wonderful nation we have and all our blessings and the way God has prospered us. As we look at other nations, especially Afghanistan, and see the tremendous poverty and what life was like under an oppressive regime, as a result of September 11 there is a nation of people who are finally free. Isn’t it good that God can redeem such a tragic event for good? There are more nations yet to be freed from the oppressive hand of regimes that hurt and maim people, which is not God’s will.
There is a sense of renewed faith and interest in God since September 11. You would think that a tragic event like this would snuff out people’s faith. However, it unmasks what we really believe deep down. Although we have gotten busy with our lives, when it comes to what makes life what it is, there are only two things that matter–our families, and God.
Since September 11, church attendance has risen 25%. Polls before September 11 say that 37% of people said that religion was important in their lives. Today that number is 78%. In Colgate Divinity School in New York City, enrollment grew by 40%. Even journalists all of a sudden found religion, and that’s a miracle in itself because so often newspapers just tear down the church and tear down God. Now people like Kathleen Parker of USA Today writes this:
“One can’t help notice the silence of atheists these days. Suddenly God is everywhere as ubiquitous as American flags spreading, as Dan Rather said in a spasm of simile rapture to describe the rumors following the September 11 attacks, like “mildew in a damp basement.” War has that effect. We’ve always known there are no atheists in foxholes, and there were none in the World Trade Center on September 11. Now there are none to be found in America. Today is about God and country, but then it always has been. We just lost track. Since terrorists brought down the twin towers and part of the Pentagon, we repeatedly witness America’s leaders praying and seeking, singing, pledging and asking the nation’s citizens to join them. It has prompted Americans to buy up every American flag in the country, to plod Manhattan’s streets looking for some way to help, to stand in lines for hours to donate blood, to crowd churches and synagogues and other houses of worship. A friend told me she was trying to figure out what recent events meant to her. After some deliberation, she hit on a simple answer, “I figured it out and it’s really very succinct. I believe in God, and I believe in my country.”
What a miracle God has done in redeeming our times. There is a shifting paradigm seen in the nation. A woman had a fight with her sister that had gone on for eleven years. As a result of September 11, she realized that the thing that separated them was insignificant compared to life itself and love and family. As a result, she became reconciled to her sister and now they are best friends. One woman was getting ready to terminate her pregnancy and saw the loss of life. She said it was a sign to her. She asked why she should take a life when all around the nation people had lost theirs. There was a young man who said this, “Before September 11, I worked 75-80 hours per week, eating late-evening dinners with my wife. My focus was on my career. Since that day, I can’t wait to leave work and go home and enjoy the love of my life. We decided to stop waiting to have a family. Life is too short. We are getting on with our lives. Our first child will be born in January 2003.”
There is a report of the shifting character in our schools. Before September 11, almost every month there was a school shooting. Since that day, there hasn’t been a single one. Principals all across the nation are saying that the kids this past year have been the most well behaved in the history of their terms as principals. God is there working to redeem the times.
Think of the miracle that in the midst of death and tragedy, there were 32 babies born. It is tragic that they will never know their fathers, but the great thing is that in the midst of death, God brings new life and hope to families who have experienced loss. It touches us to discover how these mothers are getting caught up in God’s plan to redeem the time. These 32 mothers have gotten together and they have taken all the excess baby equipment that was given to them out of generosity by the people of America, and they have started a ministry. They are giving this baby equipment to every mother in New York that has a need. That’s called redeeming the times. That is making good out of a tragic event.
All across our nation, there are thousands of new ministries and services being offered because people’s lives, having been touched by tragedy, have been moved by God to heal the wounds in other people’s lives. That’s redeeming the time.
Of course, there is the story of Lisa Beamer. As a result of the loss of her husband, she has started a foundation to help hundreds of at-risk children in New York and to give them life and hope. Lisa herself is an example of what God can do. She is convinced that what gave her husband courage is the assurance that he would see his family again in Heaven and that what was happening right then, however horrific, was not the final reality. That’s what keeps her going. She said, “If I were to try to hold my life together based on human strength, I wouldn’t get out of bed. I am so thankful to have my God-given strength and courage. Every day seems like a dichotomy because I’m human with emotions of sadness and grief. On the other hand, my perspective is much bigger than just the things that happen in this world. If your perspective is only in this life, you are holding onto your little world at all costs. That’s going to be a very fearful thing. Despite the best efforts of our government, we will always be vulnerable in some place. You cannot rise above fear completely, but if you gain a perspective about God and your ultimate purpose, you can feel confident and secure and some of the fears heal.”
There’s the story of Deborah who lives in a small town in Connecticut which was hit extremely hard by the events of September 11. She said that children in every town in her school lost parents and aunts and uncles and siblings and cousins. Rather than being bitter about it, this is what she says, “Seeing this first-hand has changed my life and my perspective towards life. It has made me more patriotic. I am a better driver on the road. I smile more, and I treat people with random acts of kindness, something I wouldn’t have done before September 11.”
Where is God? God is working in the hearts of people to turn tragedy into triumph. He is taking something evil and turning it into something good. If you are not convinced, let me conclude with just a summary of what happened that day. I think this puts things into perspective.
Where was God? The twin towers of the World Trade Center employed 50,000 people. Of the 50,000 people, 2,823 lost their lives. In other words, 94% of the people survived the attack. The Pentagon employs 23,000 people. Only 123 lost their lives. That’s a 99.5% survival rate. In addition, the plane seemed to have come in too low too early to affect a large portion of the building. On top of that, the section that was hit was the first of five sections to undergo renovations that would help protect the Pentagon from terrorist attacks. It had recently undergone strengthening and blast-proofing, saving untold lives. This attack was very sad but statistically a failure. American Airlines Flight 77 could have carried 289 people. 64 were aboard. 78% of the seats were empty. Flight 11 could have carried 351 people, but only 65 were on board. 81% of the seats were empty. On Flight 93, 84% of the seats were empty. Out of a potential 74,280 people who could have lost their lives, 93% survived the attack. That’s a higher percentage than those who survive heart attacks, breast cancer, kidney transplants, liver transplants and all common and survivable illnesses. The highjacked planes were mostly empty. The Pentagon was hit at its strongest point. The overwhelming majority of people in the World Trade Center escaped, and a handful of passengers gave the ultimate sacrifice to save even more lives.
Where was God? God was in September 11 saving lives. God is still saving lives and healing people. If you have come here this evening with tragic thoughts, fears or need of healing, trust God. As He has worked his redemptive plan in the lives of these individuals, He will redeem your life as well and give you hope and heal you and comfort you and strengthen you. Open your heart to him, give your life to him, give your problems to him, and let him work his redemption in your life as well
Let’s pray.
