We approach a significant day for remembrance this Sunday, September 11. Our thoughts should be drawn back to that spring morning on our east coast that claimed nearly 3,000 lives of Americans and plunged us into two wars costing thousands more and leaving tens-of-thousands wounded. Furthermore, a host of Americans today suffer PTSD and suicides mount, our infrastructures are crumbling due to monies being poured into the war efforts, and we have a national fear etched in our minds. Also, the politics of dealing with state terror has driven a deep wedge between us (case: the Iran Nuclear Deal).
While it should be a key time for pause and pondering, and an important time to talk to and to teach a whole generation who has no or only vague memories of that day, it is vastly more important to consider the spiritual climate of the nation – of the church – of self. Righteousness exalts a nation (Proverbs 24:34) and that definitely seems missing in America today. What might God be saying to us and what should we be confessing, changing and doing?
Statues, War memorials, the flag, Mt Rushmore, memorials such as those to Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln should give us pause and cause conversation:
Joshua 4:4-7, Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.”
God punishes evil and had His people keep the rod that budded as a reminder of His dealings:
Numbers 17:10, And the Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die.”
“One nation under God” and “in God we trust” used to mark us and should continually be in our thinking, homelife, schools, government halls and business, and in our public life:
Deuteronomy 6:4-9, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Remembering God’s past help via days set aside like Memorial Day, June 14, July 4, Labor Day, Armistice Day, Thanksgiving, etc. I Samuel 7:12, Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
But this sounds the most like our country just after 9-11 and since 9-11: Psalm 78:34-39, When He slew them, then they sought Him; and they returned and sought earnestly for God. Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer. Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue; For their heart was not steadfast with Him nor were they faithful in His covenant. But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; For He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again.
Thank you, Lord, for your great mercy. May you find us repentant and submissive.
a PK Musing 
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