As the anniversary of 9/11 arrives once again,
I recall visiting New York City on Remembrance Day just two months after the
tragedy.
On other trips, our senses were assaulted by
flashing neon lights and the ear-splitting noise of honking taxis. This
time, a quiet sombreness pervaded the crowded city. We could smell smoke
before we arrived. Grey ashes covered sidewalks, roofs, and grass. We were
not prepared for the emotional scene of so many photographs of missing
persons. The chain-link fence erected around Ground Zero was plastered with
cards, flowers, and candles. We saw an ash-coated bicycle chained by the
road, its owner never to return.
As we neared the site of devastation, pedestrians
became so quiet that footsteps were all that could be heard. Along with
hundreds of others, we surveyed the scene in shocked silence. A young boy
had climbed a post for a better view. Cameras were passed up to him. Without
a word, he snapped a picture and passed them back down. It was a strange
thing in a city where one would normally hesitate to hand their camera to a
stranger.
When we moved away, a fire truck came along,
hosing the roads. The men hung off the side, looking exhausted. In a surreal
moment, people stopped to clap. A few voices called out thanks. Some of the
fire fighters waved or smiled, but it was obvious that they had nothing left
to give.
"The bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild with
cut stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with
cedars." (Isaiah 9:10 HCSB)
In his bestseller, The Harbinger, Rabbi Jonathan
Cahn points out that shortly after 9/11, a stone was cut from mountains to
create a symbolic cornerstone of the rebuilding, just as Isaiah prophesied
centuries before. Political leaders made speeches, unintentionally using the
very words of the prophet. The words of judgement on Israel, a nation in
spiritual decline, were used in defiance by Americans waging war on terror:
We will rebuild.
Cedars were planted to replace a fallen sycamore
tree that had been standing outside St. Paul's Chapel, shielding it from
harm. In 1789, on the day of his inauguration, George Washington, America's
first president, led the Senate to St. Paul's and dedicated the country to
God. St. Paul's owned the field where the World Trade Centre was built.
Ground Zero is the site of America's consecration.
The attack on the United States was a warning.
God's warnings awaken and save us, rather than condemn us. Like birth pains,
they become stronger and more frequent. Attempting to build anything in our
own strength, whether it be a house, family, business, church, tower, or
even a nation, is not the answer. Let us be wise and build on the Word of
God, our rock and our salvation.
"He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my
fortress, I will never be shaken." (Psalm 62:2 NIV)
"The rain came down, the streams rose, and the
winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had
its foundation on the rock." (Matthew 7:25 NIV)
Prayer: Almighty God, You call us to be watchmen
like Isaiah. Shake and awaken us, that we may submit to You, worship You
with reverence, and build our house upon the Rock. Amen.
JJ
Ollerenshaw
Belleville, Ontario, Canada
Reprinted from the PresbyCan Daily
Devotional with the author's permission
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