Wow, it’s hard to believe that it has been 16 years since that shocking, tragic attack on our country by Islamic terrorists, an attack in which nearly 3,000 Americans lost their lives either at the Twin Towers in New York City, at the Pentagon, or in a field in Pennsylvania. The scenes of the airplanes crashing into the towers and the smoke and debris will forever be etched into our minds. The response of the firemen and police of New York City and Washington D.C. was amazing, but tragically many of them lost their lives in their rescue attempts.
Our nation’s response was one of renewed patriotism and prayer, and church attendance soared—for awhile. Unfortunately when life returns to somewhat normal, we so easily forget and now our country is full of divisiveness, hatred, turmoil and bias against the expression of Christian faith. We seem to be so much like the nation of Israel in the Bible. How quickly they forgot what God had done for them, their hearts turned from Him and they returned to worshiping other gods and “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 1:25).
Now we are experiencing unprecedented natural disasters, with hurricanes, flooding, earthquakes and wildfires. I believe that just as with the events of 9-11-01, God is giving us a warning of judgment to come and of our nation’s need to repent and return to acknowledging and worshiping Him. Sadly, instead of seeing the hand and the power of the Creator at work and the results of the curse He placed on the earth because of sin, many put the blame for all this on the refusal to believe we are causing climate change by our pollution of the planet, and are doing nothing about it. Unbelievable, but that is where we are as a nation. May God have mercy on us, and may we see yet another revival in this country as we have experienced in the past, when Christians got serious about their relationship with God and saw Him move in mighty ways. That’s what we desperately need. We need to be good stewards of this planet, and—in fact—were given that responsibility at the time God created mankind and placed them in the Garden of Eden (see Gen. 1:26-28). But, “going green” isn’t going to solve our problems! Going to God is!
After 9-11-01, my wife put together a notebook of pictures and articles to help us recall that tragic event in our nation. As we reviewed it this morning, we re-read this commentary which I thought you might enjoy. It is entitled: “How the Binch Stole America”
“Every U down in Uville liked U.S. a lot,
But the Binch, far East of Uville, did not.
Now don’t ask me why, for nobody can say,
It could be his turban was screwed on too tight.
Or the sun from the desert had beaten too bright
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.
But, whatever the reason, his heart or his turban,
He stood facing Uville, the part that was urban.
‘They’re doing their business,’ he snarled from his perch.
‘They’re raising their families! They’re going to church!
‘They’re leading the world, and their empire is thriving,
‘I MUST keep the S’s and the U’s from surviving!’
Tomorrow, he knew, all the U’s and the S’s,
Would put on their pants and their shirts and their dresses,
They’d go to their offices, playgrounds and schools,
And abide by their U and S values and rules,
And then they’d do something he liked least of all,
Every U down in Uville, the tall and the small,
Would stand all united, each U and each S,
And they’d sing Uville’s anthem, ‘God bless us! God bless!’
And all around their Twin Towers of Uville, they’d stand,
And their voices would drown every sound in the land.
‘I must stop that singing,’ Binch said with a smirk,
and he had an idea—an idea that might work!
The Binch stole some U airplanes in U morning hours,
And crashed them right into the Uville Twin Towers.
‘They’ll wake to disaster !’ he snickered, so sour,
‘And how can they sing when they can’t find a tower?’
The Binch cocked his ear as they woke from their sleeping,
All set to enjoy their U-wailing and weeping,
Instead he heard something that started quite low,
And it built up quite slow, but it started to grow-
And the Binch heard the most unpredictable thing…
And he couldn’t believe it—they started to sing!
He stared down at Uville, not trusting his eyes,
What he saw was a shocking, disgusting surprise!
Every U down in Uville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any towers at all!
He HADN’T stopped Uville from singing! It sung!
For down deep in the hearts of the old and the young,
Those Twin Towers were standing, called Hope and called Pride,
And you can’t smash the towers we hold deep inside.
So we circle the sites where our heroes did fall,
With a hand in each hand of the tall and the small,
And we mourn for our losses while knowing we’ll cope,
For we still have inside that U-Pride and U-Hope.
For America means a bit more than tall towers,
It means more than wealth or political powers,
It’s more than our enemies ever could guess,
So may God bless America! Bless us! God bless!” Author U-NK !
Pause today and remember 9-11-01, the lessons learned, the families still suffering, and the need to once again be a nation that God CAN bless (see Psa 33:12 and Prov. 14:34).
Forever His,
Pastor Dave
Wisdom of The Week 