Where is God in a Crisis?
These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33) The word tribulation here means to be afflicted, burdened; to have persecution and trouble. In the earth, Jesus warned us that we would experience these things but He encouraged us that we are overcomers through Him who has overcame all. Jesus said I am with you always even to the end of the age.
In crisis, God chooses to work through His people. He has always chosen for man to be His voice, hands and feet to release His will in the earth. God gave man dominion in the earth all the way back in the garden and has not changed His mind concerning us! (Genesis 1:27-28) He has put His Spirit within us. God works through the prayers of His saints and the obedience to their surrendered will to be the answer to the cry of hurting humanity. He releases His supernatural grace upon those surrendered to minister hope to the hurting and to exercise His compassion to the lost and dying.
In Ephesians 2:6 says, He has raised up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. Under the leading of the Spirit of God, we can change the situations around us for the better. Only God can take devastation and cause it to work for His glory. He works during crisis causing people to look within their own souls, bringing repentance, needed change and humility, which often tears down the dividing walls of social barriers. There is an inner building that takes place in the hearts when people go through hard places and they realize what is most valuable and important in life. God is a God of love and He is always releasing His love to a fallen humanity. He is a God of restoration and does heal the broken places.
Hebrews 6:11-12 says, we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Everyone has something to contribute to others in need. Do not hold back those things which the Lord has asked you to release. You are the one whom God can flow through to the meet the needs of others. The Lord is counting on His body to represent Him well and to bring Him glory, by serving others as a steward of our goods not an owner of them. This includes our personal resources, time and compassion. When we house God’s Spirit we are called to be life givers which in turn will bring life back to us. Our greatest example of this is and will always be Jesus Christ. It would do us well to imitate Him as children of the faith, through obedience, to make a difference in the world around us.