Twenty Years After Terror
Psalm 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
It was my friend’s birthday. September 11, 2001. We were in sixth grade. They say you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing on days like that. I’m sure my friend was just hoping for a good birthday. We were just hoping to enjoy the treats he’d bring to school. I never asked him what it’s like to have your birthday overshadowed by a national tragedy. To have your day of celebration change for others into a national day of mourning.
We were sent home early. Our eyes were glued to the news. Four planes. Two in New York. One in Washington. One in a field in Pennsylvania. Would there be another? Would other cities be attacked? So much was unknown. Everything was changing.
We invaded Afghanistan. We invaded Iraq. It seemed as though every American’s righteous anger was poured out. From halfway across the world it was hard to distinguish between the guilty and the innocent. But the wars extended. The Iraq War ended in 2011. For better or for worse, the war in Afghanistan ended last month. Some of my own family served. It changed them. It harmed them.
It became more difficult to travel. Security was beefed up at the airports. But has our national security ever been the same? Have people felt as secure as they before September 11, 2001? Does this ever-changing world in which we’re living make you want to give in and cry?
God is our refuge and strength.
Psalm 46 was written 3,000 years ago, but the “is” still applies. He has declared, “I AM who I AM.” As much as our world is ever-changing, our God is never-changing. He is always our refuge and strength. He is always our Mighty Fortress against the attacks of the devil and the world.
An ever-present help in trouble.
When trouble comes, it may seem like God isn’t present at all. And if he is present, at times, he’s not present to help. If only we could understand God! Why did he allow this to happen? Why does he continue to allow evil to persist?
God does not want robots. He could force everyone to do his will. Many times, he does indeed prevent evil. But he does not force anyone to do his will. The attacks of twenty years ago were carried out by evil men. Evil always begins in the will of human beings and of Satan.
But this is God’s promise. He is always present to help even when evil abounds. When evil comes to you, run to the ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Because God is our ever-present help, our refuge and strength, our Mighty Fortress, we need not fear. The earth is falling apart. It is always changing. It groans “as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” But we stand on God, our rock. He will not be moved. “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
Twenty years after terror, we are still here. It is by God’s hand that we are still here. It is by God’s power that we will live forever, beginning now on this earth and for eternity in heaven. As St. Paul wrote long ago,
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31,32,37-39