In the face of tragedy or disaster, we can feel comfort in the knowledge that God is there, that He loves us and by His grace we shall be saved. And therefore we praise him forever.
Michael Whitaker Smith was saved at the age of 10. Born in West Virginia in1957 to Paul and Barbara Smith, he had an ordinary childhood. His father worked in an oil refinery and his mother was a caterer. He learned to play the piano at an early age. He developed a love of baseball from his father and a love of music from his church where he sang in the choir. During his youth, he developed a close bond with older friends in a bible study. Yet when those friends left for college, the teenager felt alone and rejected.
After graduating from high school, he went to college for a semester but dropped out and turned to alcohol and drugs. While he realized he was on the decline, he felt unable to change. After Smith hit rock-bottom in November 1979, he recommitted his life to Christ and began to recover.
Part of his turnaround came when he got a job playing keyboard for Higher Ground, a contemporary Christian music group. Through faith and effort, he was finally able to break from drugs and alcohol.
His career since that time has been extraordinary.
Smith has played and composed for some great artists including Sandi Patty, Kathy Troccoli, Bill Gaither, and Amy Grant.
He sang at the funeral of former President George H. W. Bush at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on December 5, 2018. A multi-platinum artist, Smith has written 32 number-one songs and received 3 Grammy Awards and 45 Dove Awards. He has been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and has sold over 15 million albums. (Wikipedia)
The significance of September 11th
The story behind our hymn of meditation, Worship Forever, is amazing. Smith was on the tour promoting this new song and album in 2001. He decided to fly home on this particular morning. As he was driving home from the airport to his destination, his wife called and asked if he had seen the news. She told him about a plane crashing into the “twin towers.” He assumed it was a small plane accident. When he arrived at his studio, he turned on his television only to see the horrifying videos of two airliners crashing into the buildings. His reaction was like ours . . . an almost unimaginable realization that we had been attacked resulting in massive loss of life.
Later that evening, Smith realized the significance of the date that his album with this featured song had been released: September 11, 2001. In September 2021, the artist performed a major concert as a remembrance of that fateful day. He believed God’s timing was in the release of our hymn of meditation. When we study the words to this great praise song, we can see the connection of the words to the devastation of that attack. So, let’s look at those words.
Give thanks to the Lord, Our God and King
His love endures forever
For He is good, He is above all things
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
With a mighty hand and outstretched arm
His love endures forever
For the life that’s been reborn
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
Sing praise, sing praise
Forever God is faithful
Forever God is strong
Forever God is with us
Forеver and ever
From thе rising to the setting sun
His love endures forever
By the grace of God we will carry on
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
Sing praise, sing praise
Forever You are faithful
Forever You are strong
Forever You are with us
Forever and ever
His love endures forever
His love endures forever
His love endures forever,
Praise to the Holy Trinity.
These words magnify a number of the attributes of the Triune God we worship. Our meditation will look at those attributes with biblical references. The phrases in parentheses refer to the lines in the hymn.
1. The Triune God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
(We give thanks to the Lord our God and King)
In 1 Peter 1, Peter addresses the Hebrew exiles as follows.
According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood.
1 Peter 1: 1-2
This is a clear indication of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. Peter goes on to describe how He “caused us to be born again” because of the great mercy of God the Father. (For the life that’s been reborn)
2. God is faithful.
(Forever You are faithful)
In 2 Timothy 2 Paul writes these words.
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
2 Timothy 2: 11-13
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.
God is faithful to those who remain in Him. He is faithful to His word and promises. They are all “yes” in Christ.
3. God is with us forever.
(Forever You are with us)
In Matthew chapter 28 in the Great Commission, Jesus promises to be with us “always, to the end of the age.”
God through Moses spoke these words to Joshua in Deuteronomy 31: “for it is the Lord who goes with you. He will not leave you or ever forsake you.”
The writer of Hebrews quotes this same promise for us in chapter 13, verse 5.
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
Hebrews 13: 5
never will I forsake you.”
4. God is omnipotent and omniscience.
(With a mighty hand and outstretched arm. Forever God is strong)
“In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” It takes infinite strength, power, and knowledge to create the earth and all that is beyond.
In Isaiah 46, we read these words regarding the attributes of God.
Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”
Isaiah 46: 8-10
5. God is good.
(For He is good)
God’s goodness is described by Jesus and recorded by Matthew in chapter 7 beginning in verse 9.
Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7: 9-11
James underscores this attribute of God . . . His goodness . . . in his letter.
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:17
6. God is the source of infinite Grace.
(And by the grace of God we will carry on)
Paul writes the following in Ephesians chapter 2.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2: 8-9
John describes His grace in his gospel (1:16).
For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1: 16
Paul describes his dependency on God’s grace as follows. (2 Cor 12)
So, to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12: 7-10
7. God loves us with an everlasting love.
John writes about the love of God in his letters. Let’s look at 1 John 4.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
1 John 4: 9-12
His great love for us is manifested in His plan of salvation as Paul records in Ephesians chapter 1.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2: 4-5
Conclusion
How do we carry on in the aftermath of 9/11, COVID, or individual disasters in our own lives? Smith’s answer is we carry on by the grace of God.
We rest in the assurance that God loves us with an everlasting love. He promises to never leave us or forsake us if we are in Him. And we are called to give thanks to Him in all things . . . not for all things. We are thankful to Him in all things because of the promises of His presence with us through it all.
David captures these truths beautifully in Psalm 23. Consider reading and praying through that psalm as the closing to this meditation.
Let us make every effort to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind . . . as we carry on. Amen!
Hymns for Him 
