Do We Dare Release the Fading Memory of 9/11?

A new tower stands at the World Trade Center, along with
historic Trinity Church that was spared of destruction on 9/11.

Sept. 11, 2001 started off as what seemed to be just an ordinary day. Millions of people going to work, to school, the grocery store, the gym, the doctor, the auto repair shop. By midmorning, however, it seemed as if the world had been turned upside-down – at least in the United States.

Four commercial airline jets had been hijacked and commandeered, three crashing into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the west side of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and because of heroic efforts of passengers, a fourth crashed near Shanksville, Pa. before it could reach another destination for destruction and mayhem.

 

In all, 2,996 people died as a direct result of the hijacked plane crashes, not only passengers and occupants of the buildings but also firefighters, paramedics and police officers.

 

Sadly, in the more than two decades since, the sense of horror and disbelief has become a fading memory for many people. There are memorials at the site of what’s become known as “Ground Zero,” but aside from the unending annoyance of passenger screening at airports that didn’t exist prior to ”9/11,” there’s little to remind us of what transpired that day.

 

An entire generation of young people who weren’t even born at the time know little or nothing about the terrorist acts. In fact, a U.S. congresswoman once referenced the Sept. 11, 2001 events as “somebody did something.”

 

The evening of 9/11, and for days and weeks afterward, churches across America were jammed with mourners, frightened Americans and persons seeking answers for the orchestrated acts of hatred. However, within a month or two, the temporary spiritual fervor had waned as people calmed down and returned to “life as usual.” Today, instead of flocking to the nation’s churches, it seems throngs of people are leaving them, apparently convinced they don’t need God.

 

Should we release the diminishing remembrances of 9/11, dismissing them as “that was then, this is now”? Simply as “somebody did something” and leave it at that?

 

The answer should be a decided and unequivocal “No!” Just as we dare not abandon the painful yet important histories of slavery, the Holocaust, and other terrible times in the annals of humankind. Not to stir up renewed anger and festering bitterness, but to remember the individuals who died, the families devastated that day – and the terrifying example of the evil possible when God is removed from the equation.

 

As we read the Bible, especially the story of the Israelites in the Old Testament, we learn the consequences of short memories. The Israelites saw God perform great miracles in freeing them from four centuries of bondage in Egypt – creating plagues that eventually convinced Pharaoh to let them go; parting the Red Sea as Egyptian chariots and horses pursued them; providing water, manna and quail to sustain countless thousands of men, women and children. Yet, during times of prosperity, they quickly forgot what He had done.

 

We see the Israelites faithfully serving and worshiping God when led by humble prophets and godly kings, but once those leaders died, the people quickly turned to idolatry and pagan practices. Memories were extremely short, especially during good times when they forgot they needed God. As the book of Judges concludes, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

 

Things haven’t changed much in the many centuries since. In the days after 9/11, some expressed the opinion that one reason the Lord allowed such unbelievable acts of evil was to get our attention, to remind us of our need for Him. Perhaps for a moment or two He did have our attention, but it appears we have turned our focus to other things. For many people, God is a mere afterthought, if that.

 

Not long ago I read a compelling quote from the late Aleksandr Solshenitsyn, a famous Soviet author and outspoken critic of communism until his death in 2008. He was arrested for his dissent and suffered for eight years in the notorious Russian gulag system. He wrote novels about Soviet oppression – one, The Gulag Archipelago, won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. Here’s what he said:

 

“Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.'”

 

We live in perilous times today. As dark memories of 9/11 fade, as more and more people live ignorant of such acts motivated by fathomless evil, we’re also losing the conviction of our individual and collective need for God. All around us, we are reaping what we’ve sown.

 

Proverbs 29:18 carries a cautionary message: “When there is no vision, the people perish….” Another translation states it this way: “Where there is no [prophetic] revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.”

Did the Lord allow the tragic events of 9/11 to serve as a wakeup call to a nation – and a world – turning their back on Him? That’s up for debate. But we can’t ignore the reality that absent of an understanding of God’s design for us and standards for living, people indeed are casting off restraint and ultimately perishing, empty and hopeless. That’s what happens when, as Solzhenitsyn wrote, “Men have forgotten God.” 

But God Intended It for Good

In less than two months, regardless of the quality of our eyesight, we’ll all be seeing 2020 – on our calendars. In one respect, I can’t wait to see what the new year holds. However, if the crazy current year is any indication, maybe waiting wouldn’t be a bad idea. Lately, however, I’ve been thinking about a different kind of 20:20. Not the kind revealed by an eye chart, but the perfect vision afforded to us through the benefits of hindsight.

Have you ever experienced a time of extreme disappointment, when at that moment it seemed as if all of your hopes and dreams were crashing down? Then, days or weeks or months, or even years later, you realized that setback wasn’t so bad after all? 

One man who attested to that was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who courageously exposed many of the evils of Communism under Joseph Stalin. For his efforts, he was sentenced to years of imprisonment in a Soviet gulag in the 1950s. Deprivation he experienced in the “corrective labor camp” provided unique insights into human suffering and the meaning of life. Most important, it became an integral part of his spiritual journey, leading him to conclude, “Bless you, prison, for having been in my life!”

Bless prison? How could anyone regard cruel confinement as a “blessing”? And yet, that was how Solzhenitsyn came to regard it as he wrote a series of books called The Gulag Archipelago.I know of other individuals who could look back on their time in prison as a spiritual turning point. Among them was the late Charles Colson, a former chief aide to President Richard Nixon, whose own prison experience led him to start the Prison Fellowship ministry that continues to touch many thousands of inmates nationwide.

For individuals like this, flawless hindsight revealed to them God could use a devastating experience as part of His process for shaping them into the people He intended for them to become.

Thankfully, I’ve not experienced anything remotely close to that. But numerous times, circumstances caused me to wonder, “Where did I go wrong?” or, “What in the world’s going on?” Only later did I learn how God had allowed the distressing circumstances to take place so that He could guide me to something much better than I could have imagined.

The Scriptures provide numerous examples of individuals whose lives seemed to reach a dead end, only to realize God was preparing them for future use. One who comes to mind is Joseph, the young man whose own brothers sold him into slavery out of resentment for his father’s favoritism. Taking that lemon and turning it into lemonade, Joseph became a valued servant in the household of Potiphar, a prominent Egyptian official. 

But that was hardly the end of his story. Joseph’s faithful service was unjustly “rewarded” by Potiphar’s wife when he spurned her lustful advances. “No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Joseph protested (Genesis 39:9). Rather than admiring his virtue, the scorned wife falsely accused him of sexual assault and Potiphar had him imprisoned. 

“What did I do?!” might have been Joseph’s lament. Sitting in prison, he had ample opportunity to wonder about being wronged for doing right. Ultimately, it became evident God wasn’t at all surprised by the turn of events. The Lord used them to place Joseph into a strategic role as the chief assistant to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. This set the stage for fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham when He said, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky and as the sand on the seashore” (Genesis 22:17). 

Many years later Joseph’s brothers unknowingly came to him looking for help in the face of a growing famine. Rather than seeking vengeance for their betrayal, he embraced them and was able to declare, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

A familiar New Testament verse relates to this. Romans 8:28 states, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” Unfortunately, it’s sometimes dispensed as a simplistic platitude to comfort people going through times of serious struggle. Nevertheless, as Joseph learned in Egypt – and as many of us have discovered through our own adversities – it's true.

Do some of your hopes and dreams seem shipwrecked? Have dark times descended that defy explanation? When we encounter such moments in life, we can take heart in knowing the Lord is indeed in control. As He said through the prophet Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you…plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

For all of us who love God and are called according to His purpose, we can trust that even our hard experiences are intended for good. Sometimes we just need 20:20 hindsight to see how.