Crisis screams. A phone call that shatters, symptoms that destroy, an emergency that swirls into chaos. If you’re like me, you grasp for control and try to hold things together as you pray, “Help me, help me” or just “God,” until you finally breathe and melt.
In the siren lights and scary alarms, we need help. We need to lean on someone else because we can’t control a crisis. That’s a startling realization, isn’t it? We are dependent. It’s so easy to forget this in our regular days…until the crisis comes.
But God helps us remember, through the crisis.
Leaning, leaning,
safe and secure from all alarms;
leaning, leaning,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
(“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” Hoffman, E. A., 1867)
Our eternal God
As we prepare for an inevitable crisis, let’s remember who God is, in His unchanging character. Whose arms are holding us?
God is eternally powerful, all-knowing, wise, strong, compassionate, merciful, loving, good, sovereign over all, kind, holy, just, fair, trustworthy. That’s just a start! He created and sustains the heavens and earth. He is Alpha and Omega, outside of time and place as we know it. He is LORD.
In a crisis, God is our dwelling place, our refuge.
This means we can lean on Him. He is our safe refuge in the crisis because He holds it in His power-full strength and trustworthy care. We may not be physically safe, shielded from crisis and suffering, but we are safe and secure because God is our trustworthy refuge in those moments.
Fellowship with God Through Jesus Christ
Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1 ESV).
Since we have been acquitted and made right through faith, we are able to experience true and lasting peace with God through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King (Rom. 5:1 VOICE).
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 1:9 ESV).
We are in “fellowship” or “koinonia” with Jesus Himself. According to the Greek definition, we share in the dignity and blessings of Jesus, in relationship. We have forever-peace with God through Jesus as our Savior. Our Emmanuel Jesus is always with us, beloved in Christ, whether we realize it or not. His love is in us, in the crisis moments and suffering. Jesus says:
I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them (Jn. 17:26 ESV).
What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
what a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
Walking Through Crisis with God the Holy Spirit
By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit (1 Jn. 4:13 ESV).
In crisis, we don’t know what to pray for. We can’t know or understand all of the intricacies of God’s will, or what we’re supposed to say to others in response. We need His help. What a comfort to know that our indwelling Holy Spirit, our Helper, is interceding for us, not only in moments of crisis but in any of our weaknesses.
Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,
leaning on the everlasting arms;
oh, how bright the path grows from day to day,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
Walking through a scary crisis
I know many of you are walking through scary things. Oh, we do not like the scary aspects of suffering. When crisis compounds and collides in long-term ways, are you also discovering that the Lord comes so near to help us in those moments?
The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him (Nahum 1:7 ESV).
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me (Jn. 14:1 ESV).
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
A playlist for crisis
I don’t know why the Lord directed me to write this today. He compelled me to do so. Perhaps it was for you. Perhaps it was for me because I have a hard time not letting my heart be troubled in a crisis!
Our eternal and great God, our loving Father knows what we will need today, tomorrow, and forever. For me, the singing of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is His beautiful gift to keep my heart and mind from being troubled in crisis times.
So I’ve professionally curated a YouTube playlist specifically for a time of crisis. The lyrics sing the themes of who God is and His always-present help to His children, believers in Christ. If this would bless you now or you’d like to have it for the future, sign up here and it will come to your email as a gift.
