A National Crisis

Isaiah 55:1-13

Jim Davis

Friday was declared a national day of mourning for our country. We continue to mourn. We hardly know what to say at a time such as this. However, our presence today will far outweigh any words we could enunciate. One thing that I have learned at funerals of loved ones is that it is not what you say that makes a difference. Your presence is what matters most. Knowing that Americans are standing together is a great comfort to those who have lost loved ones.

Those who suffered the loss of their loves ones may be thousands of miles away from here today. Those mourning in New York will never hear the words spoken hear today. But knowing that this country has come to a screeching halt to mourn with them will bring them much comfort.

Because we all are citizens of the same great country we are able to encourage and strengthen one another. Support and sympathy of friends are a wonderful source of strength. I know that those who have suffered loss are thankful that America as a family feels the personal loss. I know that they are grateful. 

There is great value in people mourning together. It tends to unite us, as we really should be. We are united with them because their suffering is our suffering. This was an assault on our way of life. It was an assault against every American on this continent. It was an assault on the world as terrorist sought to strike terror in every heart that seeks freedom.

A Great Spirit Prevails

We have heard so many stories of bravery about those caught up in this tragedy. Our bravery at this time is the greatest tribute of respect that we could possibly pay to those who have died. I think that our bravery is greater than we have imagined over the past few years. I think that it will come to light.

May this tragedy renew our sense of purpose as a country through the help of Jehovah-jireh, which in Hebrew means, “God will provide.” Our soldiers have fought wars all over the world for the sake of freedom. Those wars have become very distant in our minds because they were not fought on American soil. May this tragedy remind us why brave souls die on distant battlefields. They die on those battlefields to prevent what we have experienced this week from happening in our own backyards. We must remember our mission in the world is a mission of peace and freedom. That is what our forefathers came to this New World seeking. They were seeking a New World order based upon the principle that each of us is created equal with certain unalienable rights.

Hopefully, this tragedy will renew peace-loving countries’ commitment to back our efforts to bring peace to our world through the destruction of terrorism. These attacks on the World Trade Center were on the world at large. This was a war declared on every democratic right we exercise. 

Hopefully, the families of those lost in this tragedy will take comfort in the fact that the lives of their loves ones have not only reunited our country but the world at large in its efforts to bring peace to the world regardless of cost. 

May the spirit of those fireman and policemen/women who died in the aftermath as they sought to save others continue to live on in our hearts. Jesus Christ taught and exemplified the truth that there is no greater love than a person who would lay down his/her life for a friend. The idea of godly love is that it seeks the highest good of others. This is the concept behind treating others like you want to be treated. This is the most powerful principle to motivate our lives. It empowers your life and the lives of others for good—NOT EVIL. It leaves the world a better place.

There are times we must lay our personal rights and freedoms on the line for the sake of others. Those firemen and policemen spent the last moments of their lives living by the highest principle known to humanity. They gave their lives trying to save the lives of the victims. They became victims themselves.

Hopefully the lives of those who died will become a part of us as their death motivates us to renew our commitment to God and country. May their deaths be a continual reminder to us of the essential sacrifices necessary for a renewed commitment. May we continue to replay all the video footage that we have seen over the last few days in our minds as a reminder of the sacrifices we will have to pay if we do not renew our efforts to live by the highest standards possible. It may happen in Tampa and St. Petersburg if we fail.

May We Share Our Leaders Burdens

The leaders of our great country are facing many burdensome decisions. They need to gather the information needed to make the necessary decisions, but they also need wisdom to make the right decisions. We must pray for God to give them the necessary wisdom (James 1:5).

We must remember why God has ordained governments.

Romans 13:1-5
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. God has established the authorities that exist. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. (NIV)

When governments become evil, governments seeking to do what is right must punish them. 

The Unsearchable Judgment of God 

In troublesome times I am always hesitant to step in and say what God is doing, or isn’t doing. It is impossible for me to say what God will do, or want do in the difficulties that lie ahead for all of us in our battle against terrorism. It is even more difficult for me to understand why evil abounds all around us. Sometimes it seems to flourish. It is far from me to understand why God allows tragedies we have witnessed this week. 

Romans 11:33-34
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" (NIV)

Job 9:10-12
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. When he passes me, I cannot see him; when he goes by, I cannot perceive him. If he snatches away, who can stop him? Who can say to him, 'What are you doing?' (NIV)

Although God’s ways are past finding out, this does not diminish my faith in God. The reason my faith is not diminished is because I do know that God is accomplishing his purpose in our world regardless of the evil choices of others. We may not understand God’s ways but we can know that He is motivated by what is right and good. We know that he can work in a world conflicted by the battle between evil and good in such a way to make it work out for good to those who choose to do good. 

Romans 8:37-39
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV)

Evil Is Real and Powerful

It is hard to believe that such a dastardly deed could be plotted against innocent people. Who can make sense of evil? The nature of evil is such that it not only seeks to kill its enemies, but it will eventually kill the ones seeking to kill their enemies.

John’s Revelation reveals how Satan sought to bring the world powers against Christians. They were forbidden to buy and sell. They were slaughtered in the streets by the Roman government. However, it was that same evil of Satan that brought Rome’s destruction. You can’t take fire into your lap without getting burned. You can’t do evil without evil returning upon your own head.

This is all the more reason we should fear evil. Evil is real and it is powerfully destructive to those who are motivated by it. However, God is greater to be feared than evil. 

Matthew 10:26-31
"So do not be afraid of them . . . Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (NIV)

Evil cannot quench our thirst or satisfy our hunger.

Isaiah 55:1-3
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. (NIV)

Isaiah 55:6-7
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. (NIV)

God’s ways are sure to make us prosper. We are assured in the following passages that God’s word will accomplish the promises of God in our lives.

Isaiah 55:8-11
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (NIV)

The effectiveness of God’s word is just as reliable as the laws of reaping and sowing seed for a harvest. God can make his word come to life in the most barren places.

Isaiah 55:10-13
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed." 

God wants us to know that if we seek to quench our thirst and satisfy our hunger by seeking him that our lives will be fruitful, regardless of how barren they are at the present. The laws of reaping and sowing serve as an everlasting sign of the surety of God’s promises.

Conclusion:

Are we spending our lives on things that will not satisfy? 

Hopefully, good will comes from the difficulties we face. This may very well be a wake-up call for our country and for the church. Throughout the Bible, famine, pestilence, war, death and natural disasters were things that served to redirect the world’s thinking to a more godly way of living. It seems over the past decade and a half that we have had plenty of these. May they serve as God’s trumpet call that motivates us to deepen our commitment to God.

Psalms 46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah (NIV)

A Prayer

O Lord, you who are the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; look with compassion, we pray, upon all those who have lost loved ones in this tragedy. We pray that our minds and hearts shall be at your command during this crisis. Grant that this service of comfort, which we now hold in your name, may bring to all a sense of heavenly nearness and great trust in you. And may the peace of Christ, even the peace that passes all understanding, abide with us and rest upon our country and especially upon those who have lost love ones. We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.