Special Message at a time of National Crisis

From Dr. Dale Meyer Host of Lutheran Hour Ministries' "On Main Street" television program, and Benidt Memorial Professor, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

I don't know what the situation will be as you read this. As I compose my thoughts the news reports are still breaking. One thing echoes in my mind, "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth" (Genesis 6).

As citizens of the United States, most of whom call themselves Christians, we dare not be naive about the world in which we live or the role our trust in God requires us to take. When a congressman asked me how to reconcile Christian love with his service in the House Anti-Terrorism Committee, I answered that it is also sacrificial love when our government and military personnel put themselves into danger and even combat to protect us. God has given the government the right to use force to protect its citizens (Romans 13). The memory of that conversation is strongly in my mind today.

As individuals we dare not be naive, either. There are evil forces that want to attack the goodness of God in your life, to make you doubt, to shake you from your place of stability and peace. Peter, (the one Jesus called "Rocky" but whose own behavior was anything but steady), reminds us, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." Therefore, always, but especially today, God help us in our personal individual lives to stand firmly in His love and to not be tossed to-and-fro by the uncertainty of these early moments of terror. And, then, let us pray for wisdom as Christian citizens, that we might "resist evil steadfast in the faith" (1 Peter 5).

Prayer: Lord, our final refuge and strength, deliver us from every evil of body and soul, and give comfort and peace to those who face the pain of loss or the uncertainty of a loved one's safety. Amen.