In Honor of September 11th

This is an excerpt from one of my Seminary Professors and now PRESIDENT of Concordia Seminary--Dr. Dale A. Meyer. He comments on the existence of evil in our world. Evil still is among us. As long as sin remains in this world, as it will until the second coming of Christ, we will live amongst the evil that is both outside of us and within us because of the sin that we are born into. May we take this time as a nation to reflect on the Sept. 11th attacks and on the devastation that happened during Hurricane Katrina. May we begin to see just how dependent we are upon a God that truly does love us amidst the evil that surrounds us in our world today.

We thought it must be an accident, a plane off course, but then came thenews: A second plane, a second tower. What happened was more than couldbe understood that day, that year, even four years later.

Back then we had let ourselves believe that people are basically good. The buildings hit. People jump to their deaths. People like us fleeingfor their lives. There is evil, and evil lives in people. Are more andmore of us forgetting that painfully learned lesson?

"God, where are You?" we asked and we still wonder.
He was there. "God sits high but looks low." He looks down in therubble, down with the sobbing souls. The Most High who came down to thecross is with the victims of every tragedy, with the crushed whatever thecause, with you, with me.

It is time again this weekend to be quiet, to remember that there are two sides, good and evil, and to be determined for which side you will work. "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lordtests the righteous, but His soul hates the wicked and the one who lovesviolence. The Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds; the uprightshall behold His face" (Psalm 11:3,5,8).

Copyright © Dale A Meyer 2005
http://www.daleameyer.com

The truth is that this is the very reason that Christ came to die for all of our sins. So that one day we may be taken from this world of devastation, chaos, pain and death. It's on that day we will no longer deal with the effects of sin that cause us to be alienated from one another, bondage or addiction to material possessions, drugs etc..., disobeidence to God and one another, meaninglessness to life, the evil that happens both outside with natural disasters and other human sources, weakness or failure of self and finally death... JESUS CHRIST HAS OVERCOME ALL OF THIS FOR US. HE HAS FREED US FROM THE EFFECTS OF SIN. NOW WE ARE ABLE TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER!