It must have been the most confronting of days in any airline employee’s career, and twenty years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the airline industry is now enduring another painful season. 18 months in and those of us like myself are still contending with so little flying and so much uncertainty; so much talk and so many opinions, yet so few guarantees. We have been working at the hardware store much longer than we had hoped.
Some people turn towards God at times like this and others decide to turn away from Him, trying to use the events to validate their atheistic faith. Many Australians do neither, instead they decide to continue on as the stereotypical Aussie, not talking about spiritual stuff. But to abstain is also a choice.
Which one are you?
Do events and circumstance change your view of who God is? Are you drawn to God in tough times or are you angry at Him for letting it happen? Or are you neither; you prefer to stay in a bubble and “not go there"?
On its anniversary, you will have lived 7305 days since the September 11 attacks. There were no doubt many ups and downs in that time. You most certainly have experienced a range of feelings and emotions. You will probably be a little different now to who you were then.
But in Malachi 3:6 we read, “I the LORD do not change.”
The reality of God’s existence, His nature, our mortality, heaven and hell, in fact everything in the Bible, all remains the same irrespective of global and personal circumstances. When life is going swimmingly, you and your family are well off and healthy, doing what you enjoy, when that is the case you are still a sinner who, unless you have the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, must face God’s judgement. When life is miserable and difficult, when relationships are strained or even end, when you hate your job and see no improvement coming, God still remains good, holy, and loving. These two realities are always the case regardless.
When historic moments like 911 and COVID occur, those of us like myself in aviation feel it very acutely. But irrespective of your particular career, although it does sometimes feel like it, not everything has changed. “I the LORD do not change”. What a great truth to cling onto, that regardless of the mayhem in the world, God remains the same. And that “same” is so good.
