Submitted by Donnie O’Fallon
The
steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Trust
in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock. Isaiah
26:3-4
Does being a Christian mean no more crisis in our lives? Crisis
moments often cause us to Panic! We lose control, we’re thrown off balance, and
suddenly our ability to think logically seems to leave us momentarily. There have
been a number of crises around the world recently. In the past two weeks in
Louisiana, torrential rains came in a short time creating what is being called a
500-year flood, leaving thousands of people homeless and losing all their worldly
possessions. My cousin, who lives there,
called to say their home had 5 feet of water in it and their two cars were
completely submerged. The was an earthquake in Italy where the death toll is
near two hundred as of today and others are still missing. This week families
in our own congregation received word of the death of a grandchild, and parents
were called in the middle of the night and notified their son was in transit
via care flight to a hospital to receive a potentially life-saving surgery. Tornadoes
in the Midwest trapped people in a collapsed Starbucks Building in the Midwest.
Crises can blow into your life like a sudden storm.
We live in a fallen world and in a time where bad things
happen to good people. When these things happen, many times we’re prone to ask
God, Why? We may not get an answer because it falls into the realm of mystery!
I Know this…that God’s still in control and through these crises He desires to Direct Us, to Correct us, or
Redirect us!
In ACTS 27, we read where Paul is
about to depart on a ship to Rome. Earlier in Acts he had sent word to the
Church in Rome that he wanted to come to them “in
the will of God”. In chapter 27
we read what happened to Paul on that journey to Rome. They were told not to go
at that time of the year but they set sail anyway. The got into a storm. The
ship was about to be lost, and Paul said to them, (23)This
very night an angle of God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me,
(24) saying, Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold
God has granted you and all who sail with you. (25) Therefore, keep your
courage men, that I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been
told. God’s still in control,
even in the crisis, and because of that we can remain “calm in the crisis.”
The crises of life do not necessarily make us or break us
but they reveal us. They
reveal our character and our faith toward God before the storm comes and His
ability to keep us even in the midst of the storm and crisis. Verse 29 says, they dropped the
anchors to keep from losing the ship in the storm. There are times when that’s all we can do. We
anchor to the words of our Lord, I will never
leave nor forsake you. God’s presence comes to us in person of
His Holy Spirit. When we’re in His will, we must ask God to teach us in those
crisis moments. God does walk with us
and teach us through the crisis times. Knowing and understanding that is how you can stay Calm in a Crisis.
Scripture to Claim:
This I declare about the Lord: He alone is
my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God and I trust Him. Psalm 91:2 NLT
