When 9/11 occurred, I was waking from a comfortable night’s sleep in an upscale San Antonio hotel. While dressing, I watched the news footage like most people—dumbstruck. After I gathered a good sense of what was happening, called to check on my wife and daughters in D.C., I joined my coworkers gathering in a hotel conference room for a discussion of public policy and improving the life outcomes of children and families. When I arrived, I found a room heavy with confusion, sadness, and fear. We were a collection of policy professionals from around the country—lots of us with family and friends in Washington, D. C. and New York. In the silence, confusion, and sporadic telephone connections with family were the questions, “What’s going on?” and, “Who is in control?” A few dared ask, “Is God involved in any of this?”
I was the lone evangelical Christian in a group of committed political and social progressives. I wasn’t in the room 3 minutes before everyone was looking to me for an answer and for prayer.
That scene reminds me that everyone needs to answer some basic, deep questions about life. Is God involved in my life? Who is in control? How do I explain this pain? It also taught me that, at bottom, we all need to encounter the majestic, glorious, merciful, and awesome God of the Scripture. He’s the only God there is. And when we really need Him, we need Him in all His bigness and splendor. Suffering people hardly settle for a puny god.
So, I want to preach in such a way that recognizes that the God that truly is and the God we truly need holds all things in His hand. He rules and reigns with no rivals. And when the world seems to come undone, the sovereign God of the Bible is who we need. In truth, we need that God all the time and the purpose of preaching in a post-9/11 world is to simultaneously reveal Him in sovereign glory while stripping away the mundane to expose our deep need for Him. Most of us live in a routine-induced daze that distracts us from ultimate matters. Preaching is the audible interruption of that daze to ask, “Do you see this great God? Come and love Him!”
Thabiti Anyabwile
