Title: Facing Life's Tragedies
Text: various
In his speech to the nation after the attack on Pearl Harbor Franklin
Roosevelt called Dec 7, 1941 a day that would live in infamy. It was a day that
rocked our sense of security and invulnerability, it was a day unlike any other
in our history until Sept 11, 2001.
On Tuesday past the security, the serenity of our nation was suddenly,
viciously and violently shattered. The worst terrorist attack in history took
place, not in a foreign land but in our own.
Catherine woke me just after 8 am to tell me what was going on and I
immediately turned on the television. I watched the events in utter amazement.
The image of the that second plane hitting the south tower of the World Trade
Center is forever burned into my mind. I was on the phone again with Catherine
watching the live broadcast when the first building collapsed I was stunned as I
saw the second tower collapse as well. There was more shock at hearing the
Pentagon in Washington had also been hit by another aircraft.
These were moments in history that are forever etched in my mind. I have
heard those of an earlier generation talking about where they were when Pearl
Harbor was attacked, they recall the events with great clarity. My generation
remembers where we were when President Kennedy was assassinated, we remember the
Oklahoma City bombing and along with this generation we will always remember
where were when terrorist flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
I'm sure that each of you have gone through a gamut of emotions just as I did.
It has made us keenly aware of our own vulnerability as individuals and as a
nation and our mortality. Life is full of Tragedy each of us has or will go
through personal tragedy in our lives. Like Pearl Harbor this one affects all of
us.
What do we do when tragedy strikes? Where do we go when something like this
happens where do we find hope and how do we deal with such horror. This morning
I want us to look at a number of passages to discover some principles from God's
Word to help us deal with tragedy in our lives.
The first thing and I'm not sure there is a particular order except for the way
I present them is We must conquer our fear. What terrorism
seeks to cause more than anything is fear. As I've watched the television
coverage this past week the face of fear has been clearly seen. There is a fear
for physical safety, can I be protected will I be next. People are afraid for
their lives. Some have expressed a fear to fly again, some were afraid to go
back to work their place of work might be next.
There was a fear that our economic security would this bring about a recession
would the stock market fall people were afraid for their wealth. And people were
afraid because our government and military couldn't stop what happened. There is
a fear of what tomorrow would bring.
How do we conquer such fear? We must have an eternal perspective of life. The
psalmist wrote In Ps 27:1-14: 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom
shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread? 2
When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies,
they stumbled and fell. 3 Though a host encamp against me, My heart will
not fear; though war arise against me, in {spite of} this I shall be confident.
James reminds us that our lives physically are like a vapor in 4:14 here
today gone tomorrow. The Psalmist was confident because he knew this life was
not all there is. The truth is no one can guarantee our physical safety. Not in
our homes, or schools, not in our cars not in planes and as we have seen not
even in our churches. What can we do? We can become paranoid and never leave our
homes or we can place our trust in the Lord who does guarantee our eternal
security.
In Psalm Ps 118:6 the psalmist wrote: "The LORD is for me; I will not fear;
what can man do to me?" (NAS) It is a redundant question. We know men can
do lots of things to us physically and financially but they can never harm those
who have trusted Jesus Christ spiritually because the Lord is our refuge. In 2
Ki 6:16 Elisha was surrounded by warriors from the king of what we know as
Syria, yet he was not afraid and reminded his young servant those who are with
us are more than those who are with them. We conquer our fear by absolute trust
in the one who holds the world in Hand.
A second thing we must do is express our grief. It is ok to
grieve. In Matt 5:4 Jesus said: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they
shall be comforted." (NAS) When we go through tragedy we must be willing to
express our grief rather than suppress it. Grief is a natural response to
tragedy. It is ok to cry and to feel pain and sorrow. Grief is a release valve
for our emotions.
We grieve today for our loss, and for our nations loss. We mourn for and with
those who have lost friends and family. We mourn because of the premature loss
of innocense for children who will no longer have a mother and/or father to hold
them in their arms and tell them they are loved; for those who will learn much
too early about the evil in this world.
We take pride in those who have and are making a herculean effort to remove the
rubble and search for survivors. Yet we mourn for them and with also because
they have the unenviable task of recovering and identifying the remains of those
who did not survive.
We mourn spiritually because many of those who perished were likely not
believers, the opportunity for them to come to Christ has been lost forever. We
mourn because so many who have lost loved ones are simply not sure of what
eternity holds, or who holds eternity. And, we mourn because as believers we
have not done all we could, all we should to make sure others hear the good news
of Jesus Christ.
The joy of the Lord is everlasting and for that we are grateful. But, life isn't
always happy, bad things happen to good people and for that we grieve.
We also must release our anger. James wrote: James 1:19-20 19
{This} you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to
speak {and} slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the
righteousness of God. (NAS)
If you're like me the emotion you felt most of all on Tuesday past was anger. A
strong feeling of hostility, that desires revenge. It's a natural emotional
response to what happened. We look with disbelief on what took place. We see the
callousness, the wanton disregard for human life and anger boils in us like a
caldron.
Many studies suggest that even before this tragedy we had become an angry
generation. We have been introduced to modern forms of anger such as road rage,
airport rage, sports rage and a variety of other rages where this caldron of
anger boils over and people lash out, out of control physically and emotionally
seeking some form of retaliation against that which has angered us.
Rom 12:19 "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the
wrath {of God,} for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,"
says the Lord." (NAS) Time and again the Bible says put away anger. That
means we are to give our anger to the Lord.
That doesn't mean those who are responsible for this cowardly act go unpunished
But, The Bible But tells us in Rom 13:4 concerning government and our leaders
" it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be
afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God,
an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil. "(NAS)
We must put away our anger and allow our government to bring justice to the
responsible persons or governments and know that ultimately God will judge in
absolute righteousness.
Along those same lines we must refuse to be bitter. Bitterness
is kin to anger, but bitterness is a cancer. Cancer eats away at healthy tissue
and cells in the body to ultimately destroy the body. Ironically in the
thesaurus one of the related words for bitterness is malignancy.
Bitterness is a smoldering resentment a deep and bitter anger that eats away at
the person who harbors it. We must refuse to be bitter.
Heb 12:15 "Look after each other so that not one of you will fail to
find God's best blessings. Watch out that no bitterness takes root among you,
for as it springs up it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual
lives." (TLB)
How can we refuse to be bitter when things like this happen? First we must
accept what we can't change. Faith is not pretending that everything is ok,
faith is facing the facts and refusing to be discouraged when the storms of life
rage out of control. Remember that we serve the one who the winds and sea obey.
We also must focus on the future. We can not change the past we can only change
the future by doing what we can to serve the Lord to share His great love. To
let others know that all who are weary and heavy laden can find rest for their
troubled souls in the sheltering arms of Jesus Christ.
The we must remember what is important. We must make the most of the time we
have now. Often we focus so much on providing our families with material goods
that we forget what's really important and that's our relationship. Time and
time again we have seen or heard of the phone calls some of the victims made to
their families to say one last time they loved them. Peter Jennings I think
choked up the other night just after he had called his children in New York and
mentioned those who have children should call them to express their love. We
need to become more a more loving people, building and strengthening our
relationships to each other and more importantly to the Lord.
Jesus told a parable in Lk chapter 12 of the rich man whose land was very
productive. He built bigger barns to store his wealth and was please with
himself at what he had done, but he was not rich in the eyes of God and the
Bible says that very night his soul was required of him.
We must never confuse possessions with purpose, we must not confuse the way we
live with the reason we live.
Then we must be will to share with others. To the Galatians in Gal 6:2
"Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ."
(NAS) As we go through these range of emotions in times of tragedy we don't want
to unduly burden others but we need to be willing both to share our own emotions
and be willing to listen and share with others. Paul wrote to the Roman
Christians, who were the victims of persecution and oppression and whose very
lives were constantly in danger: "Now we who are strong ought to bear the
weaknesses of those without strength and not {just} please ourselves. Rom
15:1(NAS) We find strength in the bearing and the sharing of our burdens there
is comfort in unity and we fulfill and follow the will of God
The final thing is that we must rely upon the Lord. As we find
avenues of emotional release we must ultimately depend on Him for strength, we
must listen to Him for direction and we must look to Him for salvation.
Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in 2 Cor 1:8-10: 8 For we do not want you to
be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came {to us} in Asia, that we were
burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9
indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should
not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from
so great a {peril of} death, and will deliver {us,} He on whom we have set our
hope. And He will yet deliver us, (NAS)
May Your light and love Prevail
R. D. Fowler
O Lord, my heart is broken now,
And lines of worry caress my brow.
I fear the things I cannot see,
But Lord I yield myself to thee.
Though Buildings fall and rise no more,
though terror reign from shore to shore.
Though this world is bathed in pain,
The King of Kings will forever reign.
Lord, please mend my broken of heart,
Give me Strength me at each days start.
And may my solemn promise be,
To live for You and not for me.
Forgive me Lord as I often fail,
But, may your light, and love prevail.
These are truly times that try men's souls. It is a time of great national
tragedy and sorrow, we pray for all who are personally suffering, we pray that
Jesus keep our leaders and our nation and that Jesus keep each of us near the
cross.
(The outline for this sermon was suggested in part from a sermon delivered by Rick Warren at Saddleback Community Church and posted on Pastor's.com web site)
