In Times of Crisis

We look to big answers when a crisis hits, but what should we really be focusing on?

When we experience major crises in our lives, we often try to overcome them in big ways. A job loss, relationship breakdown, sickness, or financial crisis may lead us to make a drastic change in our lives. Sometimes, those major changes are the right thing to do. But let’s have a think about the crisis that Zedekiah and his nobles were going through when Jerusalem was about to fall to the Babylonians. The siege of Jerusalem was a big event. It was completely life changing. It seemed as if the only ways to solve it were in big things—waging war, a massive alliance, or the intervention of God.

God wanted change, too. He didn’t want the Babylonians to win and destroy His people. But the strategy God gave Judah to overcome was not in the big events, big decisions, or big changes. Here is what God wanted: 

This was no massive military plan to win a war, but a small change to each individual’s way of life that would have brought about a major change in their circumstances. All too often, we look to the big answers to our crisis when we really should be looking at how we live and our relationship with God.

Robert Prins,
Pakuranga Ecclesia, NZ