God Centeredness in a Post 9-11 World

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

I think we all struggle to come to grips with what happened six years ago. It's unfathomable that people would cause other people such misery and destruction.

On 9-11 I was here in New York City. As the rest of the world watched the horrors unfold, I was in a hurried mode getting kids packed to go into school for the day to help where I could there. We went into overdrive trying to make sure family members were safe, (one brother in law is a pilot who was flying at the time), and I knew that I had work to do at our school. Packing my two kids we headed into Manhattan.

My daughter, who was only 2 ½ at the time, still has fleeting images of that day. She remembers watching the towers burn and she remembers the masses of people walking. (They fairly immediately closed all the bridges going into and out of Manhattan to cars so if you were there, you had to walk home.) It was pouring rain yesterday, otherwise I would've packed the crew up and taken them down town to Ground Zero. Instead we talked about it at the dinner table and prayed for the families affected, especially those of rescue workers who didn't die in the tragedy but rather are suffering from the toxic air they were breathing down there in the after math.

My oldest daughter, who is fairly astute in her observations said what I think so many people want to know: If God loves us, why would He let this happen to us? Why wouldn't he kill just the hi-jackers instead? Surely He's capable.

There have been some great articles in this blog already on the Christian response to suffering. But yesterday, as we were talking, I told my daughter about God centeredness. We, as a 'stiff necked people' (that's really what we are-no?) tend to see the world in terms of ourselves. In short, we lack the bigger picture.

God, on the other hand, doesn't lack the bigger picture. Things happen for His reasons in His sovereignty. But this is good news for the Christian. I do not know, nor can I explain why or how God's purposes were served on that day. But I know that our response ultimately must lead us back to Him.

You see, if it's all about us, life is hopeless. There is no answer to how unfair and how horrible that day was. If it's all about God, we can look to the ultimate example of unfairness--Christ on the cross. Christ on the cross was unfair, and yet because of this sacrifice we can boldly approach the throne of grace and find comfort, faith and healing. So in thinking about the consequences of 9-11, and in answering my children's questions I said this: God is not fair. He is sovereign. But it's only in the shadow of His sovereignty that we can find hope.

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Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

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