Red Alert – crisis! You may have just had one, or maybe you are in the middle of one. If you have not just had one or you are not in the middle of one, then there is one looming in your future. Don’t panic, have an anxiety attack, or start pulling your hair out. Take a deep breath and exhale very slowly. It’s probably been a long time since you did this, so practice it a few times. This is one way God has wired us to help deal with the crises of life.
It seems one of the natural characteristics of a crisis is they never occur at a convenient time. “Why now?”
Since crises are nothing new, we need to look at and learn from what others learn from their crisis. Paul faced multiple crises; it would seem that most of his ministry was spent in crises. While in Asia he faced a major crisis, but look at his takeaway: “We were under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure so that we despaired even of life. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.” II Corinthians 1:8-9a
I would say this would qualify as a major crisis. Now for the take away: “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.” II Corinthians 1:9b-10
I wonder if one of the points your Heavenly Father has designed in your crisis is that you learn to rely more on Him than on yourself. Ouch! That hurts! Truth does hurt. But remember it is truth that sets us free.
So is your crisis managing you, or are you managing your crisis through truth, relying on God and not yourself?
I’ll have more to say about this next week…
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