What do you do when storms come? How does one make it through tough times? These and many more are the questions some have during this coronavirus crisis and global pandemic. As fear and anxiety loom in the air, so many fret about the future, and worry about how we will get through this crisis.
Let me assure you there is a word from the Lord. This did not catch God off guard. His promise is, “Lo, I am with you always, even until the end . . .”
Two Crisis-Management Strategies
First, let me remind you that God has not left you. “Never feel that Christ is far away. He is always near. His loving presence surrounds you” wrote 19th Century, prolific writer Ellen G. White in the Ministry of Healing. The fact of His nearness truly is key to a sense of well-being. Jesus knows us individually, and is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows us all by name. “He knows the very house in which we live, the name of each occupant. He has, at times, given directions to His servants to go to a certain street in a certain city, to such a house, to find one of His sheep” White wrote in the Desire of Ages. You have a friend in Jesus, and even in the storm He can bring peace!
Second, we must make sure we are rooted and grounded. The Bible says it this way, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8).
We sometimes wonder why some trees are down and some are still standing after a storm. Was it the wind? No, it was because the roots of some trees extended deeper than others. Storms may build us. It is more likely, though, that they reveal us. During this time while some resent isolation, I heard someone say it’s time for consecration. It is spending time with God that builds us, and this is a time for us to evaluate on what we build our lives.
Storms may build us. It is more likely, though, that they reveal us.
Perspective in Vulnerability
“Notice how fast the whole world can fall apart?” someone asked me the other day. “In the blink of an eye toilet paper runs out. In the blink of an eye college campuses close, and the NBA stops playing. In the blink of an eye plane stop flying. In the blink of an eye you’ll be quarantined to your homes, but fired if you don’t show for work. In the blink of an eye every nation trembles.”
Humanity is so frail that a tiny, little, invisible virus could disrupted so much. This life is temporary. In the blink of an eye we can step in to eternity.
Underground Strength
Jesus is standing at the door of your heart and knocking. Will you let him in? That is why He said everyone who hears His word and builds on it is like the wise man who built his house on a rock, and when the storm came his house did not fall because it was built on a rock. Question, is Christ your solid Rock?
The song writer says,
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, when darkness seems to hide His face I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil. His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood; when all around my soul gives way, He then is all my Hope and Stay.
If during this crisis you don’t have a sure foundation let me invite you to give Jesus your heart and He will uphold you and carry you through.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
