A phone call out of the blue from a police officer or a friend delivering bad news. A note on your counter from your spouse saying they want out of the marriage. A new pain in your body you had never noticed before. A call from your doctor saying he’s concerned, and he wants to do some more tests.
Crisis hits fast, it hits hard, and it takes no prisoners. What can we know in times like these?
Practical Principles
- Life is filled with pain, sorrow, and the death of loved ones. You don’t know when it’s going to happen, but it is a reality of life. (Depressing point, I know, but they get better from here.)
- Despite the hardships of life, we must remember that God loves us. We see the small picture. God sees the big picture. We see the temporal. He sees the eternal. He has bigger plans than you can imagine, and all will be made clear to you in that final day. So in the meantime, cling to hope and the assurance that He loves you.
- Jesus weeps with us in our times of pain. He wept at the tomb of Lazarus because the effects of sin and death are heartbreaking.
- God can be glorified through human suffering and bring good out of bad. Mary and Martha wanted a healing, but Jesus wanted a resurrection. He wanted to do more than they wanted Him to do.
Relevant Reminders
- Never trade what you know for what you don’t know. When crisis hits, your mind is filled with questions and uncertainties. That’s what you don’t know. But what do you know? That God loves you, that He is in control, and that when a believer dies, they go to Heaven.
- One of my favorite hope verses is Jeremiah 29:11, where God says, “I know the thoughts that I think towards you. . . . Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
- If your loved one died with faith in Jesus Christ, they’re not just a part of your past, but they’re also a part of your future.”
- There’s nothing wrong with asking God why, but don’t necessarily expect an answer.
Applicable Actions
When a Christian suffers and still glorifies God, it reassures the rest of us that there will never be a valley so deep that God will not get us through it. It reminds us that our faith is real and will sustain us in our hour of need. When you’re going through hardship, that’s when you’re going to find out how real your faith actually is.
So hold onto hope, and know that God is working in your circumstances.
