Remembering 9/11 25 Years Later: Five Answers to “Why?”

I was in seminary on September 11^th, 25 years ago. It was a shock to see the unthinkable unfold on the screens in my office. Most of the world did the same; we stood horrified and silent.

It was just as silent, deathly silent, a few weeks later, when I visited with ten or so seminary friends to walk the streets and try to minister the Gospel to the mourning millions who passed by.  The buildings around wore black shrouds to keep any further damage controlled. They looked like mourning friends standing beside where their taller friends once stood.

People didn’t talk. They stood, they walked by, they cried. Our group was overwhelmed too. What could we do? We began singing quiet hymns on steps a few blocks away, and people gathered around and were blessed by hours of singing hymns like Amazing Grace in solemn praise. We need these songs of the cross and God’s grace in life’s greatest trials.

And yet, 25 years later, after ministering in this same city for over 20 years, the question still comes. Why? This is one of life’s most difficult questions. Let’s look at answers from the book of Job.

Do you know the story of Job? He had it all: wisdom, wealth, family, prominence. But Satan asked God if he could take it all away to test whether Job’s love for God was because of God, or because of all that God had given him. Satan destroyed him. He took all his possessions in a day, including his children, and later took his health and left him with boils covering his body. The book of Job is his story of sitting on ground zero to mourn in misery in a pile of ashes and ask, “Why?” (Job 1-2).

Why? Answer 1: Wicked people and the wicked one do wicked things.

In the story of Job, Satan was the cause. When tragedies occur, people often blame God. Yet when things go well, they make sure they get the credit. In Job’s case, Satan planned and carried out the attack. God is not the Author of evil.

It is the same with 9/11. A religious system that takes joy in the death of the bystander is a doctrine that comes from Satan. Satan was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44) who loves to kill, harm, and destroy (John 10:10). When a wicked mastermind designs a plan to harm you or me, or to harm thousands of New York citizens. The primary and first cause of the blame must fall on them and on a Satanic ploy to harm. And yet, even in this, God can use evil to bring about good.

Why? Answer 2: God turns wicked plans into good.

One of the dear ladies at church came through 9/11 with scars. She went into the Twin Towers for work that day, and on the way up, greeted a coworker. Within hours she saw that same coworker perish painfully before her—a horrific life experience.

And yet, she can share the testimony of how God used the event in her life to bring her close to Him. He also used the day to reconnect her with a family member as they both searched the city together for her daughter. They came together and she grew closer to God in this greatest of trials.

The greatest evil in heaven and earth that was carried out was done upon our Lord Jesus. He was entirely innocent and yet, Satan, and wicked men planned and carried out His crucifixion. But even in their plan for evil. God masterminded good. He takes the evil plans and works ultimate good. Job understood this perspective too.

“But [God] knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

The heat of the trial purifies and performs a good work in us. There is comfort in knowing that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Why? Answer 3: Sin is a possible cause.

All things are broken by sin. Buildings collapse because they are not indestructible, because of the brokenness of the curse from original sin. This world, even in its current beauty and brilliance, is at its core broken. We have disease and natural disasters because the world is not working as intended. The original sin that came into the world has passed along a brokenness that God will fix one day (see below). But now it wobbles along. That wobbling can cause pain and devastation in our lives.

And when we sin, we face the consequences of that sin. God judges in wrath but even allows punishment in love to come upon us for the consequences of rejecting His ways. If you drive your car in the median or even in the trees and shrubs alongside the road you can’t be angry with the one who made the road. God made the road and when we drift off of it, we can face devastating consequences. 

This was Job’s friends’ only thought. And they were wrong. God had greater purposes in Job’s pain. But even though they were wrong, we must all ask. Did God allow judgment upon a nation that decided to remove Him from the public square? Does God provide protection and blessing on a people that live by His ways? This is a good question for us to ask any time we go through a trial. NYC churches were filled for at least a month following that trial. Does it always take great tragedy to bring us closer to Him? Sad to say, the answer is often yes.

Why? Answer 4: God is great.

This is not very comforting to the non-Christian. But for the Christian, this is the primary answer in the book of Job. As God answers Job’s question of why, He does so through a series of about 63 questions. Each one brings no answer from Job.

The point is that God’s ways are higher than our ways; His purposes and thoughts are beyond our own. We don’t even know the questions to ask. So a heart of faith is tested to lovingly trust a good Shepherd who knows better and plans better. We wait for Him in the trial, trusting His sovereign care.

Why? Answer 5: Tragedy and trial are temporary.

Pain will not last. In the book of Job, God replaces twofold all of Job’s suffering and loss. And for the Christian, this is the end of our story as well. This life is not the conclusion. God is preparing a place without pain, tragedy, or loss.

He will make all things new. The Gospel story is one where Jesus has come and taken upon Himself the greatest pain and trial to release us eternally from that same pain. Listen to the end of the story from the last book in the Bible.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new’” (Revelation 21:1-5)!

To find the full study, go here: Do you misunderstand God? Critical Questions for Christians (Chapters 1-2 – The problem of evil)

The title image is of the fountains from the 9/11 memorial where the Twin Towers once stood.

The image of Job is a sculpture in our local park. It was made by Nathan Rapoport, a Polish-born man who fled Nazi atrocities and eventually immigrated to NY. The statue was made as a memorial to the Holocaust. It represents the great suffering that the Jewish people endured during the Holocaust. Rapoport saw the correlation between the horrific suffering of life and the biblical character of Job.