What I’ve Learned About A Crisis
It does not matter the length of time you have been a believer. You are always growing and learning. That’s the process of sanctification. Honestly, there are some things we have to “learn” the hard way, no matter how many times we read how to or someone tells us how to.
We all take for granted the things we have in our home. Food. Clothes. Wash towels. Toilet paper. Potatoes. Water. Seriously, have you ever headed to the supermarket and said “I hope they have what I need?” Honestly, most of us know the answer to that…no. In America, we assume that not being able to connect to WI-FI is a crisis.
This unprecedented reaction to COVID-19 has crippled the everyday enjoyments Americans have considered as normal. Not many of us, including myself, really ever considered the idea of not being able to get what we wanted when we wanted it. I must admit, my eyes have been opened, and I have felt shame for not being more thankful for being able to buy basic needs at any time. Here is what I have learned in a few short days.
What You Take For Granted Can Be Gone In A Few Short Days
Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” In America, you are normally able to go get anything you want at anytime you want. I have never, in all my life, gone to the store and not been able to get basic food needs. This past week, as I went to pick up a few necessities, a good portion of what I needed was not available. It stunned me. I thought to myself, how blessed we have been and yet have never fully understood this. I felt shame and conviction as I seemed to have put more trust in what I could put my hands on than a sovereign God. It was painful.
I saw the reality of how in a moment’s time, what we take for granted can be gone. Many times we sit down to eat as a family or grab a sandwich for lunch. We bless the food. But we often do so as a routine. When I brought home some food from the supermarket that evening after seeing the effects of this crisis, I thanked God for what He had provided. I did so differently than ever before. I realized just what a blessing and how thankful I was He provided. When you grab a bag of chips to snack on, you should give thanks for His provision. I don’t want to take for granted all that God has given us and yet we never really stop to think how He does it. May God help me to be thankful for His providential grace.
There’s Nothing Secure This Side Of Heaven
Psalms 146:3 “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.” The stock market lost all that it had gained in the last three years in a few short days. Gone. Vanished. As I reluctantly looked at my fund, 27.4% had evaporated in four days. It could have all been gone. Had I hoped in what I had saved, my hope would have been destroyed. Yes, I could lose all I have here, but my salvation won’t be lost. I understand that. I trust in that. I rejoice in that. I want to be a good steward of what God has allowed me to have. At the end of the day, nothing, and I mean nothing, is secure here. It’s all vanity, all vanishing and fading. Bless the Lord He allows us to have temporal things, but they aren’t eternal. Live on this side of heaven with the understanding this place is not your home. Heaven is your home. God is your Father.
Psalms 62:10 “If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.” If you have obtained wealth, don’t place your hope in it. Enjoy it. Use it for God’s glory. Help. Give. Be generous. Knowing it is not eternal, live with enjoyment with what God has given. Ecclesiastes 8:15 “So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.” It is a gift of God to enjoy what He has given us. Every item we possess or enjoy is a gift from God. Bless His name for His gifts you enjoy this side of heaven, while not forgetting these gifts can be fleeting and vanishing, so as to not put your trust in them.
It’s The Lord’s Will Whether We Live Or Die
James 4:13-15 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
I know that I cannot live in fear. No one can. The Scriptures tell us “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline” 2 Timothy 1:7. God is sovereign. He is in control. He is not twisting His hands at the chaos of this world. He has purpose in all things. I know it’s easier to quote than to live. But His actions are not arbitrary or reactionary to what man does. He plans and purposes. Look to the Word of the Living God for help, hope and refuge in a time of crisis. Rejoice in the things He has granted you. Bless His name. Worship. Pray. Serve. Glorify Him.
Share