It’s a word that used to conjure anxiety and terror. We’ve become so used to the word that it’s lost some of its sting.
Hardly a day goes by that we don’t read it in the media. There’s humanitarian crisis, an economic crisis, a border crisis, an environmental crisis, a political crisis, a health crisis, an earthquake crisis. Each sums up critical danger for a sector of people, often those least able to deal with it. We could be crushed by the crises that engulf our planet. Our human emotions cannot cope with so much stress.
How do we cope?
The Chinese character for ‘crisis’ is two parts; one meaning ‘danger’, and the other ‘opportunity.’ This is a good way of being positive even in the midst of a massive crisis. In the current danger of Covid there is opportunity. Let’s identify and use that opportunity to seek God, trust Him, and share His blessings with others in whatever way we can.
Our English dictionary defines a crisis as “a time of trouble, danger and intense difficulty.” As Christians, we are not immune to the effects of crises around us, but praise God – He is with us as we struggle through tough times!
I love the words of this old hymn
“O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.”
Yes, God WAS with us in the storms of the past, He IS walking with us through Covid, quakes, wildfires, volcanic eruptions – whatever surrounds and threatens us. And He WILL BE with us in the future. Whether we live with Him sheltering us through this pandemic, or are released by death to be with Him in Heaven, we who commit to His leadership are safe. We know that nothing will touch our lives without His knowledge. He has guided and guarded us through millions of dangers which we may not even have been aware of.
We Know that God will never leave us or forsake us. He has promised us this wonderful blessing, and we can claim His ‘peace that passes our understanding’. Sometimes it takes a crisis to make us ‘be still and know’ that our Father is in control. Covid has, in a few short weeks, brought the globe to a stuttering stand-still. We’re able to hear the Earth groaning, and new signs of life surrounding us as commerce has slowed, andpollutants have been withheld, allowing wildlife to flourish. We are breathing cleaner air and learning to live with ourselves and our families. We Christians can rejoice, because in this time of worldly anxiety, we can enter God’s presence, and claim his promised peace, protection and power.
So with grateful hearts, let’s “set our minds on things above; not on things of earth, for our lives are hidden with Christ, in God” (Colossians 3 v 1)
May you know God’s blessing in this new week of opportunity.
Rosemary Francis.
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