The God of crisis

It may seem controversial and unwarranted to call Him "the God of crisis", but I do so reverently - for although crisis is never pleasant, it is invitable. It may not be meant for our destruction, but it always hurts, yet in God's hands it will also work out well - every time.

Patterns of biblical history reflect a recurring challenge of status quos. Whenever God's people settled into bad cycles or destructive patterns He would allow things to run their course and then provoke or allow a crisis so that His people would change - for their own sakes.

When they were slaves in Egypt, He allowed that to run its full course before stirring up a confrontation between slave and slavemaster. That aggravated an already bad situation, but in reality it exposed their crisis for what it was. So, although they kicked against it initially, the thing that God was doing gathered momentum until the people bought in and fearfully turned to God for salvation - then He broke the yoke of Pharaoh and set them free.

When The Jews turned back to the wilderness, He left them there for forty years until they had outlived the legacy of their parents and were sufficiently uncomfortable to want to move on without moving backwards. Out of the resulting crisis came a new beginning.

Paul was cast into crisis in the midst of his blind persecution of believers. His resulting blindness and other setbacks gained his attention and provoked a change of direction in his life. The prodigal son also had to lapse into a pigsty until he was sufficiently uncomfortable to turn back home. Peter had to face his own personal heartaches before he changed from an idealistic, bombastic fisherman into a sober, passionate apostle.

I could go on, but suffice to say that I see people facing so much crisis in their daily lives. Almost always, an underlying concern emerges, something that needs to be resolved to bring their lives to their potential. A marriage can quickly slump into a long, dangerous rut unless something happens to provoke the two spouses to either change direction and heal or face up to an alternative reality. James Dobson had to deal with a heart attack before he was able to listen to God and change his own personal life course. Another common area of crisis is financial, a painful valley that inevitably brings real changes to values, life priorities and behaviors. We even bring little crises into our childrens' lives to provoke them to change.

God is not a settler, willing to allow us to settle into grim cycles of meaningless, sin and compromise - He will bring crisis, but with it He will also bring restoration to a new and meaningful life. God is redemptive - He will always seek ways to heal, but as the great physician He knows that healing may have to start with a painful operation of the heart. He hates the murky middle ground of mediocrity and will spit it out of His mouth, choosing either all or nothing over a bland and meaningless wilderness.

(c) Peter Eleazar @ www.4u2live.net