Day 51 - Issue 22
Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT
The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Today is a day when silence appears to enfold the Western world. It’s forever punctured with the image and fatal consequences of two aircraft flying into the twin towers in New York as well as one into the Pentagon and another brought down short of its target by the brave actions of its passengers. We remember 2,996 fatalities and over 6,000 wounded from that day. We have learned we live in a world in which warfare is played out on our streets.
Somehow, faced with tragedy on this scale, especially for those thousands caught up in the events directly or indirectly, it’s hard to find solace in a God who cares. In the formal commemorations God will be woven into proceedings, yet this is a long way from encountering the reality behind holy words. For some they are sanctimonious at best, mocking at worst. Where is God when tragedy strikes?
It is in life’s tragedies that I am forced to reflect most seriously upon the character of my Christian faith. This is not some form of pain relief or a blanket of invisibility enabling me to journey through life untouched by distress. This remains a fractured world. One in which the pain of 9/11 gave rise to counter strikes that only increased the scale and level of human suffering and pain across the world. Retribution is understandable, yet its primary victims are very ordinary people like those who began but never concluded their working day that September morning. Retaining confidence in God in a fractured world takes courage. For faith is courage; courage to face down my own doubts, disappointments and keenly felt injustices while retaining a confidence in the faithfulness of God. In a fractured world, a gram of faith is better than no faith at all.
QUESTION: What consolation does God’s promise of steadfast love offer you?
PRAYER: Lord, I pray for all those who have lost loved ones as a result of war. May you bring peace to their hearts and to this aching world.
