I still remember it like it was yesterday – the shock, the fear, the anguish, the heartbreak and questions.
I stood in a patient’s room assisting a physician with a procedure. Focused on caring for the patient, we were completely unaware of the events unfolding silently on the TV tucked in the corner of the room.
Finished with the procedure, we both looked up and gasped at the scene playing out on the screen before us. It looked like something out of a movie…only it wasn’t. The images were real. Heartbreakingly real.
As we walked out of the room into the rest of the ICU we realized the gravity of the situation. While we were focused on caring for the patient before us our nation, The United States of America was attacked.
The comfortable, trust in our safety as Americans was over. We entered a new era – we kissed our loved ones goodbye that morning in a pre-9/11 world and within seconds found ourselves in a post-9/11 world. For days and weeks fear, terror, anger and anguish filled our hearts and minds.
Where’s God?
We questioned where God was in all of this. How could he allow husbands and wives, mom’s dad’s and children to kiss their loved ones goodbye one morning only to never see them again. How could He allow such hatred to run rampant.
As heartbreaking as it is we live in a fallen world. Evil has existed in this world since the fall of Adam and Eve. (Genesis 3:1-24) This wasn’t God’s desire but it’s the consequence of sin. Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.
God will never leave us
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6
But God never left us! In His loving kindness God showed us glimpses of His goodness as we watched strangers helping strangers and as people from small, unknown towns traveled to New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC to help in recovery. He reminded us there was still good in people.
Yes, those days were devastating and excruciatingly painful, but watching the raising of the American Flag on Ground Zero gave us a glimpse of hope that the United States of America was still alive and one nation under God.
The act of Evil performed by those men would not take America down. Our gender, socio-economic, ethnic background or political party didn’t matter. We joined together as One Nation Under God determined to rebuild stronger than ever.
Today, 19 years later in 2020 we face another attack on the very fabric of who we are as a Nation and as children of God. Fear, anger and hatred threaten from COVID-19 and riots.
But, despite the stay at home order evil persisted. This time the attack on our country came from within. Anger rose, hatred spewed and riots began over racial injustice. Hatred filled the hearts of people. The love of country and fellow man all but forgotten.
More questions
Once again we wonder where God is in all of the fear, anger and questions. We wonder why He could allow the destruction of a business someone worked so hard to build from the ground up and wonder how he could allow the shuttering of church doors.
But God in His loving kindness continues to show us He’s still here with us. Women and children make masks for healthcare workers, volunteers provide water for our police who are on the front lines of the riots and churches and Sunday school classes figure out how to use technology to meet together in whatever way they can to study God’s Word.
One Nation Under God
Despite what we see on the news – brothers and sisters, black and white still show courtesy to each other through smiles as they hold doors for each other, love as a sister helps a fallen brother and assistance as families flee from threatening fires. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37-39 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
There are times when evil appears to be winning. But we must not focus on the fear, anger and hatred. We must focus on showing those around us the love Jesus commanded us to show to our neighbors.
God Wins
Friend here is what I know… in the end evil will not win! In the end GOD WINS!
If we will once again join together as One Nation Under God despite gender, socio-economic, ethnic background or political party we can overcome the evil of this world and rebuild our great country.
I know this truth and I trust it. And until God calls me home I will live under the protection of the Armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18. Every morning my husband and I pray on the Armor of God before leaving our home. Will you join me in praying that prayer over your family every morning before leaving home?
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
Ephesians 6:10-18
In His Calm,
