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Where was God on 9/11? Saving the lives of over 48,000 people, using the devastation that we bring to this world to turn it for good, that many are saved, as they are today. On a normal Tuesday morning the Twin Towers contained roughly 50,000 people, not counting surrounding buildings and people on the street. That day 48,000 of them were running late. 96% of people that were supposed to be at work were not.
Abraham pleaded with God, if you find 50 righteous people, please do not destroy Sodom.
God agreed, if I find 50 righteous people, Sodom will be spared.
God lowered the number so that if He could find only 10 righteous people in Sodom, the city would be spared.
We know today from archaeological evidence that Sodom was destroyed by a simultaneous meteor shower, earthquake, and volcano. Where was God on that day? He was raining shrapnel down on Sodom.
"God, if you find 10 righteous people in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, please do not destroy it."
The question here is whether or not you think you are righteous.
Have you ever told a lie? God says that lying lips are an ABOMINATION, that all liars will have their place in the lake of fire.
Have you ever killed anyone? Jesus said that if you hate someone or call them an idiot, you are in danger of judgment as a murderer.
Have you kept the name of God holy? Calling out, "Oh My God!" in a callous and flippant way is called blasphemy and the Bible says that God will not hold him blameless that takes His name in vain.
The one that got me, Have you ever committed adultery? Jesus said, "Whosoever looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already with her in his heart." God is concerned with the intentions of the heart and not just when you act on them.
There was not a righteous man found in New Orleans, not on the Gulf Coast, not in the Twin Towers, so we should not be surprised at all that God did not divinely stop those catastrophes. We should rather wonder why we don't see more, why we have been thus far successful in thwarting the major terrorist plots of the world, why natural disasters don't occur every where, every day.
I am comforted that not a single person died in these events that would not die eventually. It is appointed once for a man to die, and then the judgment.
If you face God today, would He be justified in sentencing you to Hell? The Book of your Conscience has recorded every thought, word, and deed and it will be opened as you are prosecuted. What will you offer as defense?
God knew that there was no loophole or attorney you could find to save you, but because He loved you, not that you loved Him, He became manifest in the flesh as the man Jesus Christ, where He lived a perfect, sinless, blemish-free life and offered Himself up as the payment for your sins on the cross at Calvary. You broke the law and He paid your fine.
When you stand before the Judge of the Universe, you can be absolved of your transgressions because your fine has been paid. The only requirement is that you repent of your sins, in other words turn from sin and thirst after righteousness. Once you have done this you will know that you are forgiven, you will be born-again into the family of God, an event as substantial as the first time you were born into the world.
As death and destruction come your way, you will not wonder why God allows it to happen, but rather why He has postponed the inevitable and most importantly, why He would see fit to save a wretch like you, that while many were dying you were given the opportunity to repent or perish.
