It is Saturday now,
but Sunday is coming. We will gather for Sunday School at 9:30 AM and
gather for worship at 10:30 AM followed by Coffee Hour. Sunday is a
day of victory - a little Easter. It is a day of celebration of the
Majesty and power of the Lord, the King of all Nations. One of my
new-found friends wrote me a note to remind me that 9/11/2016 is the fifteenth
anniversary of 9/11/2001, when the Psyche and Ethos of America
the beautiful was shaken and overwhelmed. I remember most
vividly and lucidly, like a bell, the moment and the place where I was on that
morning of 9/11. I had just spent some time in prayer over the phone with
a dear servant of Jesus. Alice was away at school. All our
girls were scattered around the Land. When I saw the initial images of
the first plane I had no comprehension of the devastating damage and death
it had caused. It is written in Proverbs 18:10, "The name of
the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is
safe."
As
we take a brief journey down memory lane, back to the scene of the inferno, we
can recall that not everyone who could have run away from the towers did
so. That is, everyone ran away except for the first responders – policemen,
paramedics, and firemen and chaplains. The firemen did what firemen
do – they bravely ran into the towers to save whatever lives they could.
None of them considered for even a moment that in a matter of minutes they
would lose their own lives as the Twin Towers would come crashing down upon
them and those who were already at work. We can rightly find great
inspiration in the sacrifices of those first responders and in the lives of
those who followed in the search and cleanup efforts. “In whom do we
Christians really place our hope when faced with great tragedy? In the
face of unprecedented tragedy and massive grief we raise the
question, "To whom do we flee when everything comes crashing down
around us?" “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous
man runs INTO it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10 ESV). When it comes
to the troubles of life in this world, the memory of 9/11 reminds us that we
are not “above it all.”
The
terrorism we see on the news is too close for comfort – It reminds us
that we can find no comfort in our own names and titles, no matter how
influential we might be, no matter how many people might look to us for advice
and security. Most of our names will not be written bronze but, even if they
are, 3 generations from now our own descendents will know almost nothing of
us. They will have no clue about things we did, what we built, and
the things we treasured. Those things will mean nothing to them,
for the most part. It is written that God’s name is a strong
tower. God’s name is everything He has revealed Himself to be: His
titles, His attributes, and His promises. When our enemies pursue us,
when all hell breaks loose and Satan unleashes every weapon he has against us,
we have God’s omnipotence, His holiness, His love, and grace, and His
faithfulness. So we sing, “One little word can fell
him”. That is, the Evil One cannot stand up to the name of God, our
Savior, Jesus Christ.
That
God is a gracious saving God, and desires the salvation of all mankind is the
highest characteristic of God which He has revealed most clearly. In the cross and the
empty tomb of Jesus is revealed the immeasurable wealth of God. We run to
God for safety – to God our eternal God, creator of heaven and earth. The
Bible declares “the Lord is a strong tower.” This means, the wealth
and weapons laid up in this tower are more than enough to protect
us. So when all hell breaks loose we flee to God our Savior and find
safety. As God’s name stands for everything He is and the inexhaustible
wealth of resources we have for our eternal and spiritual security, so the Twin
Towers were symbolic also. Once the tallest man-made structures on earth,
the towers stood for the freedom and the opportunities which have allowed our
nation to prosper beyond that of any other nation in history. As Christ’s
crucifixion, death, and burial did not put an end to Him or man’s longing for
eternal life, the events of 9-11 did not extinguish the flame of freedom but
made it burn all the brighter in our hearts. Terrorism did not put an end to
the Christian Faith as so many of our fellow citizens have turned to God
in the weeks and now years after. Firemen and police and other workers at
Ground Zero found great hope and comfort in a cross which was found in the rubble;
a cross which is made of intersecting beams of iron from the towers. The
cross reminds us that our security is found in Christ Jesus. A husband in
the flight over Pennsylvania prayed to God with his wife after he told her
he was not going to be coming home. We declare and
proclaim, "The name of the Lord is a strong
tower." it is a strong one, it is a high one. It is a
rock of refuge, higher than men, or angels, or heaven itself; and such as those
who are in it are out of the reach of all danger and every enemy. As the
hymn writer penned:
"Like a river glorious is God’s
perfect peace,
Over
all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect,
yet it floweth fuller every day,
Perfect,
yet it groweth deeper all the way.
·
"Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest."
"Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest."
· In Jesus .
· Brown
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