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Where Was God On Sept. 11, 2001

The events that occurred on that date will never be forgotten by those old enough to remember. The senseless murder of thousands of people by a few Muslim terrorists seems so utterly wrong, that many have questioned their faith in God. They reason, if 9-11 was so bad, and God is supposed to be good, it doesn't make sense that he would allow such a terrible thing to happen. Where was God? Why didn't he intervene? Could he intervene? Is there even a God at all?

I want to look at the question everyone is asking, "Where was God?" Many have concluded that God is supposed to be good and fair, and so they come to "believe" in a deity that represents their idea of what is good and fair. They then expect God to behave in keeping with their ideas of fairness and goodness, that are all too often adopted from cultural or political ideas. So, when something happens that seems unfair, we get angry at God because he didn't behave as we would have if we were God. I think that's the problem. Most people believe in a God that they've created themselves. A God that never lets anything "bad" happen to "good" people. A God that loves and protects America because, well, were America...were the good guys, A Christian nation, right? So, where was that God on 9-11-01? Nowhere! That God doesn't exist.

There is a God, however, and He was well aware of the events of 9/11 well before they took place. He not only permitted them, He ordained that they would occur. If God didn't or couldn't ordain those events, then He isn't fully sovereign and therefore, not God. Does this make God "bad", just because the bad guys seemed to win on that day?

So, Why did it happen? Certainly God did not ordain this as an act of judgement? That's crazy talk, right? Several evangelical leaders suggested this as a possibility and were ridiculed and rejected as kooks by the culture and the church as well. Most of them recanted their position to avoid further scorn.

For the record, I have no idea why God allowed those attacks. He didn't tell anyone, so no one knows. I would have liked to have seen a great big hand reach out and guide those planes safely to the ground. There were many people praying on the planes as they were racing toward their final destinations. Did God ignore those prayers? No, he heard, but ultimately accomplished His will that day. God sees all things, through all time. Why do we think we know better than God?  Perhaps we should trust that God knows what he's doing, even though sometimes it seems to us like He doesn't.

Let us learn about the one true God from the bible, and not from our own minds which are a jumble of cultural influences.

To conclude, I believe that God loves the people of the world, enough to send His son to be sacrificed taking on the penalty of our sin and making effective the salvation of those that would believe in Him. Let us trust in that love, even when things happen that we don't like or understand.




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