Tuesday Reflections on 9/11

It all seemed unreal when it happened 11 years ago.  I remember a student stopping by my office to tell me that a plane had crashed into one of the Trade Towers.  I decided to go home and learn a little more, and then watched on TV as that impactful morning unfolded.  Still today, I remember many of the details that kept being shown on the news that day.

It's now been 11 years.  The mastermind behind the attacks is no longer living in this world, though terror still finds itself attempting to influence politics around the world.  And in the aftermath of that momentous day, many Christians still cling to the hope they have through Jesus and the cross, that this life is not the only one that we will live, and in that new life, nothing like that will ever happen.

It still saddens me that we humans tend to resort to extreme measures to get our way.  And no, Christians are not immune to this, either.  Anyone who has withheld offerings or left a church because they didn't agree with the pastor or the direction of the church has basically resorted to extreme measures to display their disagreement.  And sadly, in many churches, there are those who will give in to such measures and allow these Christian "terrorists" to win.

That's the trouble with the fact that every single one of us is conceived and born sinful.  We simply cannot help ourselves.  It comes so naturally, and we don't want to think that we are sinning when we resort to such tactics.  And yet, God's Word is very clear.  Anything that isn't proceeding from faith is sin.  Anything not done out of love for neighbor is sin.

9/11 now gives us a day to remember the tragedy, as well as a chance for us to think that we would never resort to doing such things.  However, it pales in comparison to Good Friday, where Jesus endured the greatest act of terrorism of all time, as the weight of the sin of the entire world was pinned on Him unjustly and cruelly.  And yet, out of that action, came the greatest gift that the world could ever hope for; forgiveness and new life through faith in Jesus.

As I think about 9/11 today, more than anything, I am thankful for one who saves me and so many that I love from a life that will always be defined by terror and sin.  I look forward to the new, eternal, perfect life in which such things will never occur.

The Seeming Absence of God: A Control Issue?

Yesterday, I said that I would give you a few thoughts on why God may seem to be absent in particular moments of pain, trial, or suffering.  So today, without any further ado, let's launch into a few thoughts floating around in my head.

When something bad happens, regardless of what it is, we may have a tendency to wonder why God didn't stop it, or why He seemed to be absent at that time.  First, let me say that there are many tragedies that happen in this world, and they sting and hurt a lot.  So my thoughts on this are not to belittle the pain that comes when these happens, but rather, to seek out how our thinking may be flawed that leads up to us asking why God didn't do something about the situation.

So, something bad happens, and we wonder where God was as it happened.  We may even blame God for not doing something about it, or thinking that He just wasn't there.  We wonder why He didn't stop the drunk driver from getting in his car, or any other horrible scenario like this.  After all, God could have done something to prevent it.  He's almighty, and all powerful.  Surely He could have stopped such a thing from happening.

While these things are true, let's look at what we are asking of God in this situation.  We're asking Him to take control of someone who didn't control their own actions so that something bad would not happen.  We want God to take control to keep bad things from happening.  And I think that gives us a glimpse into our issues, and why they are our issues and not God's issues.

First, we're saying that the event which God could have prevented is bad.  While many of these may be so in His eyes, we're looking at it from a very subjective side.  What if we are the one who is getting into the car, thinking that we are okay to drive home.  Do we want God to, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, just stop us for a reason that we cannot determine?  Or if we were about to say that hurtful word that would cause damage to another, do we want God to display the kind of control which would instantly cut off what we wanted to say? 

This gets to the issue of control.  We want God to control the things that we think are bad.  The problem is, it's what we are calling bad.  While I don't believe that God wants anyone to be killed by a drunk driver, what we are really asking for is that God would stop anyone getting into a car when they don't have their full senses with them.  What if that's you texting as you drive?  Of if God determines that the one beer you had with lunch was too much?  How much would you want God controlling what you can or cannot do?  And then, how would you feel or look at someone who displayed such control in your life?  Probably not with a great deal of love, but perhaps something that approached anger, or even hatred.

The next issue is determining what is actually bad.  Yes, someone dying in a drunk driving accident is a tragedy.  But we also have this tendency to think that what we do isn't really all that harmful, but that the other person took it the wrong way, or didn't understand what we meant.  In other words, we put the sense of what is bad and not bad into our own hands.

So do we expect God to abide by our sense of bad, or right and wrong?  If so, then He would have to do that for every other person in the world, and there will always be someone who thinks that they are entitled to something you deem to be precious.  But if we expect God to keep bad things from happening in this world, we would have to let God determine what is bad and not bad (right and wrong).  Otherwise, we find ourselves in the same situation that we are already in, with each person doing what they think is right.

Ultimately, this whole issue goes back to sin.  While bad things may happen even when everyone does what is "right", overall, we can usually trace each thing back to someone's sinfulness in the situation.  And with that being the case, we have the promise from God.  Sin has already been dealt with, in Jesus and the cross.  And there is coming a day when God will make everything new, and sin will not be a part of that.  At that time, our sense of right and wrong will be perfectly in line with God's (unlike now).  It won't be a control issue, but rather, a love issue, in that we will do everything which is good and right out of love for God and for one another.

Is God Absent when we Suffer or Hurt?

Psalm 69:20 seems to really summarize how many people find they are feeling and thinking when it comes to God's presence (or seeming absence) when life gets tough.  In fact, all of Psalm 69 speaks of a person who is hurting deeply, and is looking to God.  The only thing is, it seems as though God isn't really there during this hurt and time of suffering.

I have had a few people ask where God is when they are hurting or suffering.  I always have to admit that this question is not one that is easily answered.  We know that God is present in suffering, as He has given the promise that He is with us always and will never leave us nor forsake us.  But my experience has been that people want a little more than just "God is with you in your pain."  They want a bit more reassurance.

In fact, many would question if the pain and suffering is a sign that God isn't actually there with them.  There seems to be something inside us as people which makes us think that God's presence will always cause us to feel better or positive or optimistic about life.  So, the logical part of our minds would say, if we aren't feeling that or experiencing that, it must mean that God is absent.

I'll be the first to admit that there is no easy answer to this question.  In His Word to us, God reveals that He is with us as one who fills all things.  This means even when we suffer or find ourselves in pain.  From His Word, we learn that God is actually very present in suffering, as Jesus Himself has suffered and endured in pain and agony, and so He is not only with us, but knows it. 

Yet, the thing we want most is for the pain and the suffering to be over and done with.  So when it lingers, or when it is more intense than we had hoped, we may wonder if God really is absent.  This is really a question that I've thought about a lot.  Why permit suffering and pain?  And while it's not really a great answer to share with someone in the middle of a time like that, I've come up with a couple of thoughts.  But to keep this post from being super-long, I'll include them in tomorrow's post.