Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem
The Names and Titles of God (Man of Sorrows)
Isaiah 55:4
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
King James Version
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My agent Jeff was a Native New Yorker, and when his stepfather died, he took a week off from his duties in Florida and flew to New York City to attend the traditional seven-day mourning period observed by religious Jews. Since the services were to be in the evenings, Jeff wanted to take his buddy around New York City and show him the sights.
On Monday, Jeff flipped a coin:
"Heads, we go to Central Park,
Tails, we stick around here in Lower Manhattan and tour the World Trade Center."
It came up tails, so they spent the day in the Twin Towers, eating in the restaurant, shopping, going to Art Galleries and Museums...it was all there in one place. They had a great time.
"Meet me here at the Marriott tomorrow at 9:00," said Jeff, "And we'll go to Central Park."
The next day dawned bright and sunny. Jeff waited outside the front door of his hotel, when he saw an airplane crash into the side of the South Tower. At first, Jeff thought that this was a terrible accident like the time an airplane crashed into the Empire State Building decades earlier. The Empire State Building had survived the accident, and still stood tall.
Jeff's friend arrived, but there was no way they would be going to Central Park with such a monumental scene unfolding in front of them. Then, the second plane went into the other tower.
Although Jeff and his friend realized this was no accident, they couldn't move from their spot on the sidewalk. They were witnessing History. Then the tower started to crumble. It was time to run. Jeff and his friend, now covered in toxic dust, swept along with the crowd away from the falling towers. There was a Drug Store with a glass door right beside them, and Jeff's friend yanked the door open and pulled Jeff through it. Inside were a large number of people, also covered in dust, who had sought out the same sanctuary. They all watched in horror as people and debris streamed past the door.
While this was going on in New York, I was in Florida watching it on TV. They kept showing the same thing over and over, so I have the images forever engraved in my memory. It was 23 years ago but I still can't forget it. But I was not an "Eyewitness". Jeff was. He breathed the fumes, choked on the dust, ran from the falling towers, and stood with other eyewitnesses in that dark little drug store. If the coin had come up "heads", Jeff and his friend would have been IN the Tower when this all happened.
In today's Scripture, which we featured before, God is called "The Witness". He doesn't just see everything when it happens, but knows before and after in in between. There is no past or present for the Omniscient God. He not only "sees" all, as I did on TV, but He experiences it, like Jeff did on September 11, 2001. That's what makes Him a Compassionate God as well as an Omnipotent God. He even became Incarnate and suffered torture and death, just like we do. He is a True Witness to Human Suffering.
I am often confronted with the question:
"How can there be a God when there is so much evil in the world?"
I honestly don't know the answer to that question but would humbly pose these question:
"Without God, how do you even know what is good or what is evil? Where does the conscience come from? How can you align your moral compass if there is no True North? What happens to a society without the concept of Right and Wrong, Good and Evil, Civilized or Not?"
The mere fact that we are repulsed by evil acts show that there is something deep down inside of us that longs for the GOOD.
Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.
For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. (Mark 4:22)
God Bless America.
Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.
Hallelujah and Amen
ML/LTOS