What Will Protect Us? by Dr. Jim Denison
Last Monday morning I
drove to the building where our ministry offices are located and rode
the elevator to our floor. All the while, I thought about how easy it
would be for another Omar Mateen to attack our building. After Orlando,
many are thinking the same as they enter movie theaters, shopping malls,
bars—anywhere a crowd is present but armed security is not.
The
New York Times tells us that we can expect increased security at public
events as a result of the Orlando massacre. Bomb-sniffing dogs, metal
detectors, and searches will become more common. But experts question
whether such measures really work. And how would we enforce them
everywhere they're needed? Would they simply drive terrorists from a
guarded venue to a less secure one?
We can defer the question.
Since I never go to gay nightclubs, I can feel safer than those who do.
But Christianity Today's Mark Galli is right: mass murderers can attack
anywhere, any time. Nearly a year ago, nine people were murdered at a
prayer meeting in a Charleston, South Carolina, church. On December 9,
2007, two people were killed at a ministry training center in Arvada,
Colorado, and another two at a church in Colorado Springs.
I've been to prayer meetings, ministry centers, and churches. I'm guessing you have as well.
We can pray for protection, as people often do when they confront
danger. The Washington Post has a wonderful story about a chaplain at
Reagan National Airport who prays with those who worry before their
flights. But the chaplain recently lost his ten-year-old son to brain
cancer. I'm sure he prayed for his son to live.
I have prayed
every day since our sons were born that God would protect them.
Nonetheless, one of them developed cancer. He's doing well today. But I
still struggle with the fact that God didn't prevent the cancer he used
medical science to heal. If our son had died, I hope I would continue to
trust God as the airport chaplain does.
"Though he slay me, I
will hope in him," Job famously testified (Job 13:15). But note the next
line, one not quoted as often: "Yet I will argue my ways to his face."
David was "a man after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22), but he prayed,
"How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?" (Psalm 13:1).
Here's how I think we should face these frightening days in faith.
First, keep praying. Pray for God's protection for yourself and anyone
in danger. Pray for God to alert authorities so they can catch
terrorists before they strike. Pray for those who know about terrorist
plans to expose them. Pray for security officials to be effective. Pray
for wisdom to avoid danger. Pray for God to be "a very present help in
trouble" (Psalm 46:1).
Second, keep trusting. Faith is most needed when it is most challenged. The greater the pain, the more we need the physician.
Third, keep asking. The harder the question, the more we need to ask
it. "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD" (Isaiah 1:18).
"Reason together" in the Hebrew is "argue it out."
My father
would have been ninety-two years old this week. He died when I was a
senior in college. The night he passed away, I went into the back yard
and shook my fist at God. But he didn't shake his fist at me.
No comments:
Post a Comment