Psalm 46
Pastor Joel Schulz
September 16, 2001
A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD
I am sure that for most of you, this past Tuesday started out like any normal day. It did for me. But that sure changed in a hurry, didn’t it? After my wife had called me out of my office to see such a strange accident; a plane hitting one of the towers of the World Trade Center in NY, things started changing at a rapid pace. Our disbelief turned into shock when the second plane hit, along with the instant realization that there was a much darker evil behind all of what was happening. The grief over all of the people who were killed in those two plane crashes, as well as all of the people in the offices that must have been hit, was overwhelming. Two more planes crashed, and now real fear hit. But I have no word to even describe the emotion of seeing the unthinkable: One tower, then the other, falling to the ground in a cloud of dust and debris. Hundreds of dead instantly turned into thousands. The word so often used in the telecast to describe all of this: “Horrific.”
By human standards, this event has been a horrible tragedy. Thousands are dead. We probably won’t know exactly how many for some time. The loss of innocent life is the worst tragedy. Millions of people are affected by that loss. There are families all over the world who may have lost loved ones. And it isn’t just the loss of life. It will be a long time before we are able to comprehend the full extent of the repercussions from what happened on Tuesday.
How does it affect us? Certainly it brings SADNESS to our hearts. Sadness for all those who lost loved ones. Sadness for those whose time of grace was cut short. Sadness for those who may not have known Jesus. DISBELIEF. Disbelief at the evil and hatred that could have provoked such an event. Disbelief in the ability of these persons to kill so many innocent people cold-heartedly. Disbelief in what is happening in our world. And it also directly affects us with FEAR. My fear escalated very quickly on Tuesday every time I heard a reporter say, “Sorry, we are going to have to interrupt with some bad news…” Fear, when for the first time ever, every airport in North America was shut down. It was an eerie silence this week, as we walked in our neighborhood which is right under a usual flight path. Fear, since the impossible was done – an attack was carried out against a North American country in broad daylight. This fortress we thought was impenetrable was shown to be penetrable and even vulnerable. And that is now a new kind of fear for every one of us. The fear of wondering: Will our country will ever be the same? Will our continent will ever be the same? Will our world will ever be the same?
At this point, we can’t answer those questions. The sinful world we live in makes it impossible to answer those questions. As our ever-changing world trembles around us, there is one solid source of comfort that we have – the Mighty Fortress that we have in our God. As we heard in our psalm, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea…”
Of all the images I was overwhelmed with on Tuesday morning, nothing was so awful as seeing those massive buildings give way and falling into the heart of the sea of people and buildings below. I instantly knew that meant thousands of dead. There was a time during the morning where we were sure there was no way those buildings would fall, even with the damage done at the top of them. But when they did, I couldn’t help imagining what it must have been like for the people who were still standing on those floors over a hundred stories in the air. Imagine standing on what you trust to be so solid, such a firm foundation, suddenly plunge downward from under your feet! Imagine being in that free fall to your death. Awful.
Our text reminds us that “kingdoms fall.” The earth quakes. Mountains fall. Waters roar. Buildings collapse. Cities are destroyed. Governments fail. Kingdoms fall. There is nothing in this earth that we can rely upon perfectly. There is no place where we can run for true safety. We have seen that earthly institutions, no matter how powerful, are vulnerable. This is a world that offers us no true safety nor any firmer place to stand than those crashing towers did.
Why? Because this world is filled with evil. Evil has ruined this perfect world. God’s perfect creation has been changed. And evil touches us every day. We felt its cruel grip this week. We sure have difficulty even comprehending the evil which drove people to carry out the attack they did on America Tuesday. And that is the only answer for why something like that can take place; sin, evil, rebellion against God and man. But we feel the effects of evil every day. It has wormed its way into our lives too. Hatred, anger, not forgiving others, and despising God’s will for our lives are sins. When our hearts are filled with these things, we are flying our own airplanes into God’s heart too. We don’t have to commit a terrorist act to make our Lord sad. Our selfish, impure thoughts and words are enough. Evil has changed all of us. We all need to repent for not putting God first in our lives.
Even though God should respond to our evil with the same severe consequences we are all hoping that the terrorists receive, He had a different plan. Instead of making no distinction and wiping out all of us who were involved in sinful living, He wanted to save us. That’s right, He loved us even though we were terrorizing his plan for a perfect creation! And instead of just wiping us out, He sacrificed something very dear to Him – his own Son! He took out his righteous anger toward evil on his Son, so that we could walk free and live with Him forever. And so, He declared the whole world innocent of their sins. Everybody! You! And me!
That is the kind of God we have! Many images of this horrific event will be forever etched in our minds. As we still see pictures of people fleeing to safety, we am reminded that there is only one place we can flee for true safety - that is to God, our refuge and strength. Thousands of years ago this perfect and peaceful world was invaded with sin. Yet, through his Son, God promised and established peace as He conquered sin, death and the devil through his blameless life, innocent death and triumphant resurrection. So even though terrorists commit cowardly acts, building foundations fall from under us, and kingdoms and economies rise and fall, “the Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” Therefore we will not fear!
So why does God let something like this happen? God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume… It was the broken Jesus who gave us life. And it is broken families, cities, and nations who will rally and become stronger. Because Christians in them who have been broken by hardship are going to be stronger in the way they trust God. Just like a broken bone is stronger after it heals. God promises, as we heard in our reading, that He will make all things work out for the good of those who love Him. He loves us with a love that nothing can separate us from. Not any disaster in our life. Nothing!
And He gives us a promise. Because of what Jesus has done for each of us, we are residents of another city. The City of God. This is the place where the Most High dwells. His Word is the water of life that runs through it and makes is such a great place. This city of God is your home! Jesus gave you residence there! It is a good place to live. And the City of God will NOT fall! No terrorist can touch this. None of its buildings will collapse. It is grounded on a foundation that will never give way! One that we can always count on! One that lasts forever! It is the foundation of the love and promises of our Almighty God! It is a Mighty Fortress! This is the fortress that you and I must flee to for refuge and strength. It is the only one we can count on, and the only one that assures us there is nothing more to be afraid of. God is our ever-present help in trouble!
Finally, what should our response be to everything that has happened? Lash out with hatred? Call for revenge? Be embittered toward certain races of people because of what a few evil people did? Because of grace, that is not the way God responded to our sinfulness. He forgave us. And we need to forgive too. That’s right, we need to forgive the sin. We do also have the responsibility to protect ourselves and our nation. Carrying out justice will be an important part of that. We need to support what our governments do in that regard. Even though we forgive the sin of the sinner, we need to recognize that there will have to be consequences for them – harsh ones. Our first duty instead is to love those who have been hurt and do whatever we can to help them recover their lives. And most importantly, lead them to Jesus.
And in the fear and worry that invades our own hearts, we have these comforting words from the One who is in charge: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Friends, this is your comfort. A Mighty Fortress is our God! Many people looking up 110 stories to the top of those towers on Tuesday saw them come down in a terrible dust cloud. Your faith, which the Holy Spirit has worked in your heart, isn’t resting on foundations that can be taken down by any kind of evil. Your faith is looking up to a God who loves you and who promises that nothing will ever be able to separate you from it.
This faith which looks up to God, leads us to pray in the words of the next hymn,
While life’s dark maze I tread And griefs around me spread, Be thou my guide. Bid darkness turn to day, Wipe sorrow’s tears away, Nor let me ever stray From thee aside.
When ends life’s transient dream, When death’s cold, sullen stream Shall o’er me roll, Blest Savior, then, in love, Fear and distrust remove; Oh, bear me safe above, A ransomed soul! Amen.
