How To Find The Help And Hope We Need Today.
This day 9/11 will always be marked by the same image: the Twin Towers of New York burning, smoke spiralling into the clear blue sky over Manhattan, and the world as we know it is about to change forever.
Two months after that horrific morning in 2001, President George W. Bush stated: “Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.”
His words are just as relevant today as they were twenty years ago.
How Do We Respond To Tragedies!
Today is painfully significant for another reason as well: it was a year and six months ago today that the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. On March 11, 2020, there were over 118,000 cases of coronavirus around the world. As of today, that number has climbed up to millions infected and dead!
On days like today, it is good to remember that “the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). The God who “determines the number of the stars” and “gives to all of them their names” (Psalm 147:4) is the same God who “heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
His word assures us that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). This is because “this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). In the meantime, we can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
We know that God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4). And we have to testify with the psalmist, “I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works” (Psalm 73:28).
Whom Will You Comfort In Affliction Today?
Encouraging Prayer:
Let’s close on this somber day with this encouraging prayer by Henri Nouwen:
Dear Lord,
Today I thought of the words of Vincent van Gogh: “It is true there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.” You are the sea. Although I experience many ups and downs in my emotions and often feel great shifts and changes in my inner life, you remain the same.
Your sameness is not the sameness of a rock, but the sameness of a faithful lover. Out of Your love I came to life, by Your love I am sustained, and to Your love I am always called back. There are days of sadness and days of joy; there are feelings of guilt and feelings of gratitude; there are moments of failure and moments of success; but all of them are embraced by Your unwavering love.
O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and winds of my daily life, and let me know there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.
9/11 and the Covid-19 Pandemic
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