Do I Not Fill Heaven and Earth?
This Friday, of course, marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. It was a day that changed our world, our nation, and our immediate area forever. For some of you, it changed your lives personally in ways that I can’t even begin to imagine. You may have lost family members, friends, or neighbors on that horrific day. I know that some of you lost people who, in amazing acts of self-giving love, courageously rushed in to the towers to save the lives of others. Still others have been lost to the after-effects of that day, be it through subsequent illnesses, wars, or other causes. Many of you may have watched with your own two eyes as the New York City skyline changed forever.
This Friday is a day where we will remember and grieve those lost, and reflect on that day, as well as countless other difficult days since.
As I’m sure you do too, I remember exactly where I was when the events of 9/11 started to unfold. I was visiting my wife Amanda (my girlfriend at the time) at her college in Pennsylvania. I was still asleep on the couch when I woke up to shouting and cries from the other room as the second plane hit the towers. I turned the TV on and saw what was happening, but I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was still a dream, or like it could not possibly be real. It was all too much.
The feeling I remember most, once I began to wrap my mind around the reality of what was unfolding on TV in front of me, was fear. Fear of what was happening. Fear of what would happen next. Fear of what this would mean for our world.
For me, the terrorism truly caused terror.
As the days went on and we learned more about what happened, I remember thinking about the fear the people must have felt who were in the planes that day, and the people who were running for their lives in those buildings, and the people who (though wildly courageous) were rushing in to save lives, and the people who were trapped in the rubble. It was, for me at least, a time filled with fear, as there was more to be afraid of then I ever imagined.
In that fear, God seemed strangely absent, or at least, hopeless far away.
I remember thinking that if I, who was safe on a couch in a college dorm room, was fearfully asking “where was God in this?”, I can’t imagine what the people on those planes or in those buildings must have felt.
But today, as I was reflecting on this – and reading today’s bible reading in Jeremiah 23:23-24, came across this:
“Am I only a God nearby,”
declares the Lord,
“and not a God far away?
Who can hide in secret places
so that I cannot see them?”
declares the Lord.
“Do I not fill heaven and earth?”
declares the Lord.
The immediate context of these words from God are actually not very comforting, as they are more like a threat towards the false prophets of ancient Israel (i.e., “don’t think you can hide from me…”). But included in these words is a line – a question actually – of great consequence that brought me comfort and reassurance this morning:
“Do I not fill heaven and earth?”
In that fear, where God seemed so absent and so far, the truth is that God fills heaven and earth. He was not far away from this scared college kid 25 yers ago. More importantly, he was not far away from those men and women on those planes, or in those buildings, or dying to save others, or trapped in the rubble.
He fills heaven and earth, and so he was with them.
It may not answer all the questions from that horrible day 25 years ago, but hopefully it brings us peace as we remember those we lost to that day.
Hopefully, however, for you and I today – in the face of the things that cause us to fear that God is absent or far – we can remember that
He does, in fact, fill heaven and earth, and so we can, in fact, face them with courage, knowing that