Isaiah 8:1-9:21
2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Psalm 55:1-23
Proverbs 23:4-5
"Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.'" - 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
In the aftermath of the unexpected horror of 9/11 nineteen years ago, on a cool morning of clearest, bluest sky that foretold little of the impending tragedy, amidst the shock, the horror, the disbelief, and the sadness at the loss of almost three thousand colleagues, friends, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, I think the second most asked question on everyone's minds and lips was "who?" - as in, "who would do this?". I believe the most asked question was "why?"
Of the 2,606 people who went to work the next day, or the 246 who got on planes, surely there were many who knew the Lord - good people, who strove to live lives pleasing to God. Of the 343 firefighters and the 60 police officers, surely there many who had risked their lives to save others, all examples of "greater love hath no man"…so why? Why did they all have to die that way, that day? Why did they, their loved ones, our nation have to suffer such tragedy?
At least Paul got a straight answer - God let him suffer so Paul would remember he needed God. No choice - Paul couldn't pull the thorn out. And Paul didn't choose - wouldn't have chosen - the thorn; God did, for Paul.
Why, then, the tragedy of 9/11? I cannot know what God's plans were for everyone affected that day, but it was interesting to read that in its aftermath, US church attendance surged 25%. In their despair, absent answers that made sense, people turned to God. God's plan might have been different than any we would have drawn up, but He had his reasons, among them a reminder of our dependence, and a call to turn back to Him.
Today, we remember 9/11, a commemoration made heavier by the pandemic for which there is no cure, by a surge in crime for which there seems no end and, on the west coast, by wildfires we cannot seem to stop, a heatwave over which we have no control, and power outages we should not be experiencing. Very little of this makes sense, and none of it is anything we would want for ourselves.
Lord, when it doesn't make sense, when, as the psalmist prays, "my heart is in anguish within me" and "the terrors of death have fallen on me", listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my please; hear and answer me. When it seems there is no hope, and You will not take away the reason for our pain, remind us that Your grace - not our strength - is sufficient for us; that it is when we are weak that You call us most clearly to depend on You. May we have the good sense to listen, and to do so.
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