MOTHER OF THREE: The Gospel and Ground Zero

Saturday, September 10, 2011

The Gospel and Ground Zero

I found this picture on Justin Taylor's blog. His blog is part of the The Gospel Coalition and can be found HERE. Taylor's post dated September 9 is the one to which this picture is attached and it is very worth your taking a few minutes and reading. You can find the post by going HERE. I've seen so many beautiful pictures depicting ways to remember 9/11 on its 10th anniversary, all with flags waving and beams of blue light where the Twin Towers used to be, but I think the picture above really tells the story.

There are many who say that there is no way a good and loving God would allow over 3,000 people to die the way they did on September 11, 2001. Many say that God must have turned a deaf ear to the roar of those planes as they flew straight into both towers in New York, the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania. Or that the whole horrible event simply caught Him off guard.

As we listen to Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning", we can each answer that question with clarity. I was in an elderly gentleman's hospital room in Winchester, TN. going over his discharge plans, when a nurse ran past his room yelling, "Something bad is happening. Some planes have hit the towers in New York!" I remember thinking, "I need to call Mike and make sure he and Cecily (3 1/2 years old at the time) are okay and that he knows what is happening."

We all know where we were, but the greater question some have is where was God?

Over the past ten years, I have heard and even been a part of more conversations than I can count discussing this question: Why does God allow such evil and suffering in the world? To be perfectly honest I sometimes find myself grappling with that very same question. I wish there was some solid and scripted answer I could give those who ask it.

Here are the things I do know based on what God's word says:

God is love.
God is good.
God is faithful.

I am currently reading Rick Lawrence's book Sifted: God's Scandalous Response To Satan's Outrageous Demand where he takes an in-depth look at Luke 22:31-32...

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

In a section where Lawrence references Steven Curtis Chapman's family's tragedy of losing their 5 year old adopted daughter, this question is posed: How is it possible to worship God when the worst thing we can imagine happens to us? I can only imagine the numbers of people who probably ask that very question when thinking of the tragedy that struck our country on 9/11. Lawrence encourages his reader to view everything, good and bad through the magnifying lens of God is good.

So, by faith and based on the authority of God's word, I believe that on September 11, 2001 God was on His throne ruling and reigning as the Sovereign King of the Universe just like He is today.