“With the
merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful; with an upright man Thou wilt show
Thyself upright … and with the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward” (Psa.
18:25,26). This is one of the verses that came to mind in the wake of the
recent terrorist attacks upon the World Trade Center towers and elsewhere in
America. It tells us that God at times reflects back to us—both as individuals
and as a nation—our attitudes and behavior. Haven’t we all experienced it? If
we drive courteously or are helpful to other people, we find other drivers
being courteous to us and other people being helpful to us. If we cheat other
people, we find other people cheating us.

God’s
reflecting mirror is also seen in Psa. 109:17; Isa. 33:1; Matt. 5:7; Rev.
13:10; and 16:6.

We surely do
not condone the violent and murderous actions of the terrorists; the leaders
must be found and brought to justice. However, I cannot help but wonder if God
has permitted this violence against America in order to reflect back to us the
violence we Americans have been legally and approvingly inflicting upon our
fellow Americans in recent decades. Physical violence has been brought upon
millions of unborn babies; this is legal and widely accepted. Emotional
violence has been brought upon millions of children and teenagers when Dads and
Moms decide they do not love their life partners anymore, are not willing to
make the personal sacrifices stated in their wedding vows, and divorce one
another; this is legal and widely accepted. Moral violence is being brought
unremittingly by the entertainment industry upon citizens young and old; our
nation’s moral values are twisted to the point where we “call evil good, and
good evil” (Isa. 5:20); this too is legal and widely accepted and defended.

Very
appropriately, there was national mourning for the thousands who died when the
twin towers were destroyed. But don’t we kind of shrug our shoulders when we
read of the victims of 17,000 murders, 16,000 drunk driving fatalities, 90,000
rapes, and over a million other violent crimes committed in America each year?
An estimated 20 percent of adult Americans were victims of sexual abuse as
children. Well over a million American women annually are beaten—severely
enough to receive police and medical attention—by their husbands, ex-husbands,
or lovers, and some 3,000 die as a result. (Physical abuse of husbands by wives
is less common, but still substantial.) Sadly, this is not at all a phenomenon
confined to non-Christians and alcoholics. A study has shown that physical
battering of wives occurs in about four percent of Christian families. Does our
outrage toward the perpetrators of these acts of violence approach that which
we have toward the terrorists who have attacked America?

Let us bring it
even closer to home to us who are God’s children:Every time we lose our temper
(Jas. 1:19; Eph. 4:31), make a false accusation against our brother (Exod.
20:16), spread an evil—even if true—report about another person (Rom. 1:29;
Jas. 5:20; 1 Pet. 4:8), fight with our siblings over an inheritance (Luke
12:13-15), or call a person a bad name (Matt. 5:22), we are acting violently
against our fellow men. The Lord Jesus equated some of these behaviors to
murder when He said, “You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You
shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment;
but I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause
[most often the case] shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall
say to his brother, Raca [or worthless], shall be in danger of the council; but
whosoever shall say, You fool [or moron], shall be in danger of hell fire”
(Matt. 5:21,22).

Yes indeed, the
leaders of the terrorists must be found and brought to justice. But at the same
time, may we all—both as individuals and as a nation—do some serious
soul-searching about our own little acts of violence and attacks upon America.

“Search me, O
God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any
wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psa. 139:23,24).