Reconnecting With God in Times of Crisis
Job 1:13-22
How do we keep ourselves from disconnecting from God in a crisis?
You and I are not immune to crises. Job was rich but that didn’t matter. It rains on the just and the unjust. Job was godly, that didn’t matter. God gave permission for Job’s testing and Satan took advantage of it.
Crises will come; the question is how long you will wait during a crisis before you reconnect with God? Some people do it right away, and some people wait longer. Some don’t do it at all; they try to make it through on their own.
What does it look like to connect with God during a crisis?
Job’s initial response to suffering (1:20-22)
Job stood, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground in worship.
•v. 21 Naked
(you need a different perspective or view of the situation)
Zacchaeus had to climb a tree/what do you need to do to get perspective? (The Word, other believers, Holy Spirit?)
Putting the crisis on the backdrop of your entire life;
Cradle to the grave perspective
Put the crisis in the light of eternity
ILLUSTRATE: have the teens come up and create a timeline from the beginning of life to the end. Our current crisis is a speck in the timeline of our lives and the timeline of eternity.
Ask the one in the middle to put man made blinders on. Explain that is what we do when we disconnect with God in a crisis. We are not seeing the BIG PICTURE. Eternity is the circumfrance of the earth but when we put during crisis we often put blinders on so that we can only see what is happening in our lives right now.
Crises can be placed in perspective when we realize that God is preparing us for eternity
This is one of the things that can help us reconnect with God. Naked came I in, and naked go I out
Is there a crisis that you need to put on the timeline?
•V.21 Lord gave; Lord takes
My father and the red ’89 Chevy Cavalier. My dad gave me the car brand-new and after two accidents within a year he took it away. He had the right to. He is the one who gave it.
Recognizing the true authority in your life (sovereignty of God)
This is another thing that helps you reconnect with God
By the way, you are not the one in control.
Satan isn’t the one in control.
God is in control.
That doesn’t mean that we should blame Him when things go wrong. Our finite minds can’t always comprehend the greatness and wisdom of God. Our ways are not His ways. If we had our own way, we would never suffer and we would never grow.
Can you live with the Lord giving and taking? I learned this at an early age when my mother was taken from me.
Loss of job, finances, loved ones, possessions, etc.
This is one of the reasons that religious coping mechanisms tend to score higher than secular coping mechanisms. Christians have a way to conceptualize their loss/suffering.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to His purpose.
•V. 21 Praise the name of the Lord
Loving God and acknowledging Him for who He is not just what He does for us
This is yet another means of reconnecting with God
James said it best, “count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Knowing this that the trial of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing.
hyp
How’s your patience?
Reconnecting with God means being able to praise Him during the toughest times of life!
Guided imagery: what is it that you have lost this past year? I want you to think about what it felt like to lose those things. I want you to think about how the Lord was with you in that time.
In all of this Job did not sin or charge God foolishly.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want!
Pastor Vinnie Cappetta
Cornerstone Community Church
Marlborough MA
www.faithandreality.com
