Reflecting on September 11, 2001 – Part 2 – Freedom from invisible walls

Reflecting on events like 9/11 leads me to consider some questions. How should I handle my own personal life impacts?  Collectively, how could individual responses to troubles affect a nation?  Where could insecure reactions towards troubles lead us?  What perspective does reliance on what God has to say about troubles offer?

Some troubles are moved by powers beyond any level of control; occurring in seemingly random or precise untimely moments. If feeling vulnerable and powerless takes a stronghold, I could become anxious to protect myself with every kind of security.  If I build walls, every fearful brick upon fearful brick I place will separate me from others.  Unchecked, this striving force would build a maximum security building around my heart like a prison. Inside, my soul would resemble the moment the ocean became still.  I would feel alone in an empty eternity, with nothing to sooth my soul.

Enough high profile events like 9/11 could push many simultaneously in a wave of insecurity beguiling people to feel vulnerable and exposed.  Today’s news media is abundant with “bad news.” Organized groups driven by common passions have the ability to influence government to take security measures.  We would then see a nation beginning the slow build of an invisible wall.  A wall of apparent security built at the expense of freedom with bricks made from the fear of troubles. The dilemma is that a man with an anxious soul can never make a wall big enough to cover his imagination. Only God is bigger than anything man can dream, and He implores us not to worry.  Eventually, man’s mind would replace God’s security with the man made bricks.  I’ve learned that “man made bricks” require constant maintenance because they are mostly false securities.  When there is an absence of God’s presence, man is vulnerable of becoming a prisoner to anything.  Rather than being the master of the feeling of, “an underlying and alert anticipation of whatever could be next”, he is a slave to it.

The Gospel is The Good News.  Enough “Good News” could transform many in a wave of security founded on God’s promises.  God’s grace guides us how to be sober and vigilant.  We understand the lion’s roar for what it truly is; a tactic for separating people.  Consider how it would be in the wild if the big herd stood united towards the lion’s roar.  Jesus Christ is bigger anything man can perceive, and when we are in Him we also stand connected with others.  He is a very present help in times of trouble. Though we still live through the experience of troubles, God’s strength is available.  There is internal security when we have identity with God and a sense of belonging within the community of God. This internal security brings peace to the soul.

Only Christ has The Good News. In my relationship with Jesus there is no concern of an absence of His presence.  The Holy Spirit is always with me.  I remain aware of my surroundings. When troubles come I can choose to face them confidently. Then turning to Jesus I can say, “I am troubled, please help me”. His strength can’t be weakened, His wonder can’t be dissipated, and He says “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”¹ Since “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust”² I don’t have to stack bricks, though my natural tendency would be to do so.  As trust in Him grows, old bricks will get removed.   I am free to choose and experience a world with less, and eventually none, self made detrimental boundaries.  In Christ there is true freedom.

John 8:36

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I Am Free – News Boys

¹  Matthew 28:20

²  Psalm 91:2