Series: Call Me
Isaiah 58:9 ESV
Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
Matthew 6:8 ESV
Matthew 6:9-13 ESV
My dad was a Navy man (USN) during a World War II.
I remember hearing people ask my parents, “where were you the day Pearl Harbor was bombed?” My dad was too young to sign up that day but he joined as soon as he was old enough.
I also remember Vietnam but it was a little different. We were not suddenly attacked on U.S. soil.
I do remember however exactly where I was on September 11, 2001.
I remember being frightened.
I remember crying.
I remember the horror of the deaths of thousands of innocent people.
I remember the fear.
Looking back, I was 48 years old and we had just moved to a metro area from a small town. That city had a downtown area and there were tall buildings there. People wondered if we could be attacked. I don’t think we were alone.
I think it’s possible that every major city in the U.S. wondered if they would be next. Police Departments, Fire Departments, and Hospitals located in cities that had really tall buildings did consider the possibility of what would happen if their downtown area was attacked.
Everyone wondered…
What I remember most about that day is that we banded together and we prayed. I’ve been a pray-er all my life and praying is always my first reaction to a crisis. But that day it was different. Part of the element of the prayer included real fear. I had never experienced that before. Even though I knew soldiers who served in Vietnam, that was halfway around the world.
In Isaiah 58:9 the Prophet Isaiah reminds us when we face trials, “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.”
Looking back what I needed most was to hear God say, “here I am”.
God did say it that day, but it wasn’t said in the same way I’d heard it before.
My fear was loud and “big”.
I learned something about the Spirit that day.
See, before that when I prayed because I was afraid of something I had a sense of God’s peace come after I prayed.
Receiving God’s peace was soft and gentle.
The fruit of the Spirit we read about tells us in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
The fruit I needed and was given was peace and gentleness.
God had always known what I needed when I asked for help and God provided specific help.
On 9-11 in 2001 God knew I needed a different kind of help.
In Matthew 6:8 we ARE told, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Because God knows what we need, Jesus taught us to pray:
“Our Father in heaven,hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Deliver us from evil.
DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
And so that was my prayer.
Deliver us, Oh God.
That day I did not specifically have a sense of God’s peace and gentleness.
The day the twin towers went down I was given an overwhelming sense of God’s strength and in Hebrew what’s called ne’emanut or faithfulness.
The Spirit gave me an overwhelming sense of God’s power and strength and God’s unstoppable unending faithfulness.
The strength given by the Spirit that day was very strong. It was so strong that every day I remember 9-11-2001 I remember what God promised and provided. That day I learned and today I remember that God truly does provide what we need!
Spiritual Practice: Ask God
Sit quietly and ask God to provide what you need today. Be attentive to the sense you receive from the Spirit. Try to identify what God gives you.
In God, Deborah
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