There's a Worm in the Apple of His Eye!
by Rev. Lorraine D. Coconato

Deuteronomy 32: 7-12 says, “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders and they will tell you; when the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.” The Big Apple, New York City, is a city that shines with a luminous glow! The brilliance of neon lit-signs and innovative ads, lighting the paths of multitudes who grace Times Square everyday, enhance the wonder and awe of it all!

Woven into the allure and the glamour of New York's most famous thoroughfare are the merchants of the earth who gather to strategize and formalize the presentations that will generate millions of dollars. The garment district of New York produces some of the finest “threads,” the most elite garments and accessories that dress the “rich and the famous,” the middle-class and the poor.

On every street corner, people scurry to their appointed destinations, intent on securing the sale, out-doing their competitors, making their mark on eternity! The nightlife is vibrant, the restaurants are brimming with rushed clientele; there is electricity in the air, a lively camaraderie all around! A continuous buzz of boisterous voices, beckoning cell phones, plentiful food and alcoholic beverages surround the signing of covenants, contracts, and business deals officiated daily in the city of New York. Dreams are set ablaze as merchants go to and fro looking to make it big in the Big Apple! (Nickname for New York City!)

I love New York! It's a city alive and kicking! Untold numbers of immigrants have traveled through it's ports, by sea and air, swelling the population, especially in the early 20 th century. How many remember the days of old? How many ask their fathers, their elders, the Most High God how it all began? How many understand the toil and travail that birthed so great a city?

September 11, 2001 is a day to remember, forever engraved in modern history books! The Big Apple was plundered by terrorists missiles, in the form of airplanes, toppling the Twin Towers that accentuated the skyline! These towers, also known as the World Trade Center, declared the prowess of man and the power of the “almighty” dollar!

Visually watching these famous towers crumble, as people scrambled, screamed and panicked was a nightmare of great proportion! The world was stunned by the craftiness of an enemy that foiled the intelligence agencies, media and the like, bringing massive and swift destruction to lives, families, structures and a city that pulsed with prosperity! Destruction is no respecter of persons! Destruction targeted the young and the old, the poor and the rich, the mighty and the feeble! Dreams were shattered that memorable day and multitudes of lives were altered irrevocably!

Who can forget the tear-stained faces of family members searching for their loved ones? Who can forget the care and heroism of the weary firemen who never stopped looking for life under the heaps of rubble? Who can forget the sorrowful stories of men, women and children, mourning their lost loved ones?

Deuteronomy 32:9a says, “For the Lord's portion is His people…” The prophet poignantly declared in Jeremiah 2: 13 saying, “For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

A large portion of God's people, locally and globally, were impacted on that day! Some were screaming with fear, while others screamed with delight as they saw loved ones resurrected and alive from under the rubble! Ground Zero resembled a desert, a wasteland and a wilderness. Yet the Lord in His Mercy stretched forth His hand to the “apple of His eye,” hovered over the city, spread out His wings over the people, and carried many of the living and the dead unto Himself!

One year later, I visited the great city and I noticed that the “God bless yous” were forgotten, the brotherly love was forfeited and the foreign gods of mammon and pride were once again erected, as the people forged forward in “foreign apparel!” (Zephaniah 1: 8 meaning that the people have suc cumbed to imitating godless ways and seeking wayward pur suits!) Broken cisterns (wells) cannot hold water!

Two years later, the complacency was deafening! Though the rubble has been cleared, monuments have been raised and towers can be rebuilt, have we, as a people and as a nation considered the voice of the Lord in all this?

While prayer-walking through the city, I heard the Spirit whispering, “The Stone that the builders rejected is the Chief Cornerstone! New York, seek God! Seek God while He may Be found! New York, forsake not the Lord in whom all blessings flow! For if you refuse Him, the last may be worst than the former!”

May I clarify that NY'er's are not alone in their responsibility to seek and serve the Living God! As a nation, we have ignored, neglected and most often, rejected our spiritual roots, thereby leaving our borders unsecured to enemy intrusion. All of us bear a God-ordained responsibility to pray for the wisdom of the Lord in our daily lives and to ask the Lord to protect our families, territories and national borders! A prayerless people yields an unprotected nation!

Father God, Oh, how You love New York! Oh, how You love the people of that great city! Brood over New York, dear Lord and turn hearts to You! Cause Your people not to build on sinking sand but on the Stone that will never crumble, on the love that will never fails! In the midst of Broadway, pave a Highway to Holiness! In the midst of Times Square, build a city foursquare! May New York know the One True God who forms every person in the womb with His benevolent hand and determines destinies that seek after His wisdom! Let not the worm, the serpent of old, crawl his way back into the hearts of this Beloved City! Lord, may the Big Apple become a city of fruitfulness and blessing for Your kingdom and Namesake and may our nation take seriously the mandate to seek You, honor You and love You with all our heart, mind, soul and strength in the Name of Jesus, the Messiah, Amen!

Dearest Lord: So much of the Church has "broken bones!" Only You can repair that which has been done in impetuousity, frivolousness or carelessness by Your leaders! We submit ourselves to You for correction, instruction and help. May Your Church be fitly joined together according to Your designations and purposes that we may function in a manner that is pleasing in Your sight in Jesus Name, Amen!

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