Today is the 19th anniversary of 9/11. Do tears still come easily as you re-watch and relive that day’s horrific events?
Today is also the day I had assigned myself to reflect and write on the next Joshua calendar memory verse:
Israel has sinned… transgressed… taken… stolen… and deceived.
Therefore they cannot stand before their enemies. (Joshua 7:11)
It was completely coincidental–for my part–that this verse would be my focus today.
But the prophet in me sees anything but coincidence. In fact, the prophet in me finds a frightening parallel between the cause of our calamities and Israel’s. And not only concerning the disaster of 9/11. Indeed, there are mounting calamities–natural and man-made–throughout our land: wildfires and mass-shootings, hurricanes and rioting, floods and murders, COVID and crime, tornadoes and travesties of justice . . .
I can hardly read the indictment against Israel (“sinned . . . transgressed . . . taken . . . stolen . . . deceived”) without being cut to the quick concerning our own nation’s guilt. And especially today, on the anniversary of 9/11, I cannot escape the consequence to a sinful nation–Therefore they cannot stand before their enemies.
To the wake-up call of catastrophe, Israel responded correctly: they fell on their faces before the LORD, acknowledged their sin, and turned from it.
Will we?
You and I have no control over how our nation as a whole will respond, but we have every command over how we as individuals and families will respond.
Will we, being tormented by the lawless deeds we see and hear around us, cry out to God for wickedness to be quashed and for righteousness to prevail? (2 Peter 2:8)
Will we acknowledge the sin of our land, in some sense as our own, and confess it, repent of it, and cry out for compassion and forgiveness? (Daniel 9:3-19)
Will we respond rightly to the God-sent natural calamities and impoverishment and “consider our ways”? (Haggai 1:3-11)
Will we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face? Will we plead for God’s mercies so that we might turn from our wicked ways? (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Oh, may it be so!