Devotion 9.11.26

Romans 8

God's Everlasting Love

"31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

  we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

If Christ is for us, who can be against us?

That's a great question, and one I actually heard in a phone call to a superintendent on 9/11/2001.

Like most Americans, I awoke to the day and got ready for work. I was taking part in a bible study at Christ Lutheran Lubbock under the direction of Pastor Mark Paul, so I went and then got to work around 8:30 am. A secretary ran into my office and asked if I had heard that a plane had hit one of the Twin Towers in New York City?

I paused, looked at her, and asked if they knew if it was an accident, what kind of plane, those kinds of questions that the "stages of grief" tell us we go through. (In 1945, a B25 Mitchell bomber had flown into the Empire State Building so my mind took me there). Shock, denial, negotiating all at once. "It's on the news," she said.

I went downstairs to an office I knew would have the TV on, and it was with NBC carrying the story. It was there I saw the one tower with a gaping hole with the smoke billowing from it. I learned from the man in the office it was a passenger jet that had flown into the tower. Then, still etched on my memory, came the second jet as Katie Couric said, "Oh my God!"

We are at war, I said to myself. I went through the stages of grief fairly rapidly (from shock, denial, to anger and resolve). It would take a few days for the shock of the event to wear off, but in my work that day (schools were in session so phone calls were coming in), I talked to one superintendent whom I had gotten to know. I spoke in disbelief, and he said, "Don't you worry, my friend. Remember, God is in control."

God is in control. "If Christ is for us, who can be against us." Of course. Truth trumps evil.

Doors to churches opened wide by afternoon across the nation. People poured into churches who may have never graced the door of one. Hope Lutheran, with no pastor, did not open its doors until the following Sunday. People turned and returned to God in numbers I don't remember before or since.

We stop at this point in the story to reflect on Paul's passage on days like today, either as they happen or as we look back on them. Like Pearl Harbor, or the Civil War from start to finish. I'm sure the citizens in this nation felt similar angst, fear, and uncertainty as we did on 9/11. Paul's words, God's Word, give(s) us certainty. "I can do all things through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) 

We keep praying, keep sharing God's Word, and serve as light in darkness - with no fear, but instead with the fierceness of a warrior who is intent on sharing God's Word to all four corners of the earth - regardless.

Pray with me: Gracious God, You are with us always. Help us remember that promise in the darkest of hours and in the light of day. In Your Son's Name, Amen.

Hope Men's Ministry is a ministry in service to Hope Lutheran Church and School. Our purpose is to grow, unite, and share God's Word to all men through meaningful activities. These activities center on fellowship, service, conversation, prayer, study and devotion as we seek to become men of God as He created us to be.