No one wants a crisis to come, but perhaps we should! We are always trying to protect ourselves from pain. In todays day and age we go to great lengths to either make pain easier or to get rid of it as much as we can. God through the writer James tells us that we need to "count it all a JOY" when we encounter trials, and you see that "count it all joy" in the greek carries with it the idea of a hero riding in from the battle and all the people are yelling "hail welcome", and that is a picture of what we are to do with crisis. We should be able to say "hail welcome" to trouble, but why don't we? Why do we find this so hard?
Perhaps it is because we have the wrong veiw of crisis, though.... I hope that through this paper perhaps your eyes will be opened to the wondrous works that God brings about through crisis, if we but trust Him through each trouble we face. Perhaps at the end you will be able to radically say with James "Hail welcome!" to your next trial!
This is a philosophy of crisis paper that I wrote for a class of mine. It is currently twelve pages long but we are only allowed for it to be 4 to 5 pages...so obviously I have some work to do! But I hope that maybe it gives you some insight into crisis, so that you will be able to either be encouraged in your current crisis, or you will be better prepared for the ones that lie ahead!
A ten year old boy crosses the street on his way to awana club, when a car comes speeding down the street and hits the youth. The child is killed instantly right in front of his own house, by a drugged up teenage driver. The little boy’s brother witnesses the whole thing, and now blames himself for even letting his brother cross the street.
A family is heart-broken by the news that there sporadically forgetful mother has Alzheimer’s, and now she can’t even remember who they are.
A godly mother of five is devastated when she discovers that her husband is involved in an affair and will not repent of it. Her son is now having thoughts of suicide because he is not sure why God would allow his mother, a godly Christian woman, to go through the heartache of losing her husband to an affair.
A sixteen year old girl suffers a heart attack, and her family is gripped by the fear that she may not wake up from her coma.
Many people think that crisis counseling is not important because one would rarely come into contact with situations where this would actually be needed.
I know personally each of the families above. I am just from small-town Iowa, I mean if anyone was going to “miss out” on witnessing crisis opportunities, it would be me. But no matter where we are in the world, or what our occupation ends up being, we are going to come into contact with crisis within our own lives and in the lives of others.
Our lives are lived within a fallen world. They are not a not bed of roses, they are filled with thorns and the curse, mix that in with your sinful self, and a bunch of other sinful selves, and Satan, and one would have to ask their self “why would we ever come to the conclusion that we would never come into contact with crisis?”
The families above, though different in the crisis’ they are in, have many things in common. They all are going to be called upon to make some serious changes. Things will never be the same for them in, they all need direction. They are all gripped by fear and they desperately need help, and if I have come into contact with these crises in the lives of those I know just in the short years of my life, there will definitely be more to come. I must be prepared to help people face their particular crises in a way that pleases God and brings glory to Him. I must be able to point them to the God of all comfort!
The Word of God does not always speak directly (word for word) to every possible problem or crisis that we will ever face. But it does help us to think like God in such a way that when we do face something that the Bible does not clearly speak on, we will be able to make the decision that God would have us to make.
The Bible also uses many different words for crisis. The following are just a few examples:
- Trouble Psalm 107:26-28
- Trial James 1:2
- Temptation James 1:12
As with every aspect of our lives, God has a purpose in crisis. He is not that little boy on the anthill with a magnifying glass, searching for His next victim whom He can inflict pain and suffering on. No He is our loving heavenly Father who knows, and only sends, what is best and what is needed for our growth in our relationship with Him! The following are some of the purposes that God has in sending us crisis:
To test our faith
If you can’t test it you can’t trust it! When I go to sit on any chair, I never know if it is going to hold up under my weight until I sit on it, until pressure is placed on it. The same is true of our faith! We don’t know if it is real, if it is more than words, until pressure is placed on it, and the only way that pressure can come about is through hardship, and often this comes in the form of a crisis.
James 1:3-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
An example of this would be Job. He had done nothing wrong; it was just a test to see how strong his faith was. Also another example would be Abraham sacrificing Isaac. To lose a child is a huge devastation, a huge crisis. Abraham had to trust God. We must all live with faith in Christ and often the way that this comes about is through crisis.
To produce growth:
When we accept Christ as our Savior we enter into a process of growth known as sanctification. And one of the ways that God brings growth about is through crisis.
Often crisis is what it takes to shake us out of our apathy to see the sin that we were previously blinded to. Or sometimes it is just an opportunity to cause us to grow in our faith in Christ, in our dependence upon Him alone: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
To bring about our personal good
When we are in the midst of a crisis we often struggle to see past the pain, past the situation, to the greater good that God is trying to bring about. Often in hind-sight, when we have stepped out of the trouble, we are able to see just what good God brought about.
God promises in Romans 8:28 that He will work out all things for our good. That “all” there is encompassing because it includes everything from that wonderful visit at the doctor’s office where we are told that we have been cured of our cancer, to that car accident that takes the life of our son, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that everything that happens to us is for our ultimate good whether we can see that “good” right away or not!
To bring about the good of others
We are often told, ‘trials are for YOUR greater good.” And while this is true, perhaps there is an even higher reason for the sending of trials and crisis.
I think of Phil. 2:3-4: “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”
Life is not to be about just me. I have died to myself: so now I don’t live for me or even surrender to a trial just for me, but for Christ who lives within me.
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Gal.
Life is not to be about just me. I have died to myself: so now I don’t live for me or even surrender to a trial just for me, but for Christ who lives within me.
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Gal.
Thus my trials and crisis, are never just about me. There really is a higher reason for the struggles we face, the surrenders that we make, than just our personal greater good, just our mere betterment.
Oh yes there is greater good in it for me, but perhaps this is just a benefit, not the goal in and of itself! This is just the milk (our greater good), but there is meat to be found and strived for (the good of others)!
\To bring about God’s glory and plan
But perhaps an even higher plain to focus on in crisis is the glory of God!
The glory of God is always to be our aim in everything we do:
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether we are sinking our teeth into a juicy steak and sipping sweet lemonade at a church barbeque, or whether we are in the hospital too gripped by fear to even eat, while we await the news from the doctor on the babies surgery, we are to do all of this for the glory of God! So that He can bring about His glory and plan. And though we may not see it right away we can know and trust that He will do as He promised and finish the work He started:
“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;” Phil 1:6
As an instrument in the hand of God, He has given me the following responsibilities to the counselee:
Remind the counselee of the purposes’ of God:
Often in the midst of the crisis, people are so bogged down not only by the situation itself, but especially by their experience within that situation, that they can’t even come to grips with the truth that God has a purpose in all of this mess they are in. My ministry to them will be to get to know them and the situation and their struggles within, and then to lovingly help them to lift their head above their situation and the struggles, to the God of all comfort. To the God who has a three-fold purpose in their trials: For their greater good (good), for the good of others (better), for the glory and plan of God (Best)!
B. Loving the counselee:
This will involve my loving them enough to listen to them (really listen), and then to reach out and get to know, find out what they are struggling with. I must love them enough to see past the situation that they are in, to seeing them as a person, and find out what has them in its grip!
Romans 13:8 is my life verse, because love in the end is all that will remain, and it is to be the guiding force in every interaction, especially in the midst of crisis:
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8.
C. Knowing the counselee:
A lot of ministry opportunities are missed because of my failure to know people and to know them well. I need to know some key things within the counselee’s heart and the only way to do this is to ask good questions. Thus a huge part of my ministry will involve listening to the counselee and asking questions so I can better know how to speak the truth of God in such a way to them that His work can be accomplished:
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Col.
The only way I can know how to answer people is to really listen to them and get to know them. To do anything to the contrary is selfish and foolish:
“He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him.”
Prov. 18:13
D. Speaking God’s truth to Counselee:=
I want to offer more than just coping with the situation, I want to offer them hope! And the only place that is found is in the Word of God. My responsibility will be to bring God’s Word to bear on their crisis, demonstrating the sufficiency of His Word. Speaking the only truth they can have:
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. “ Eph. 4:13
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. “ Col.
E. Providing accountability
And lastly I need to be there for them, to provide accountability and to help them trust in the only One who can help them to make the changes that they will be called on to make. This will look different in each situation with each person, but one thing I must always do is:
“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Gal. 6:2
The counselee’s responsibilities
As a counselor I will be used of God to help call the counselee to the responsibilities that they have within each crisis. They must:
A. Recoginize God in their crisis:
Again I will state that in the midst of a crisis (whether real or imagined) people are so gripped by the situation and their struggle in it, that they cannot see past it all to the God behind it all. It is as if they are stuck in quick sand, so focused on the quick sand (situation itself) and the fact that they are sinking down into it (their struggle) that they do not even see the hand that is just within arms reach, ready to pull them out. My goal then is to get them to recognize that hand, and to trust that hand, that the One behind everything can and will accomplish what He has set out to do: James 1:2-4, Ps, 105:16-19. God is at work in their crisis and I must remind them of this!
B. Either to come to faith in Christ or live with faith in Christ:
Every person on the planet has one purpose, and that is to please God and bring glory to our Maker ( 1 Cor. )
And they only way we can do this is by living with Faith in Christ:
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 1:16
As a counselor my ministry to others will be to call them to faith in Christ (if they are unsaved), or to call them to live with faith in Christ (saved) especially in the midst of their crisis.
C. Remember that God is up to something good:
Often in trials and crisis the most focus and emphasis is placed on the truth that God is up to something good for us, as an individual. But there are two even higher purposes, two higher focus’ that I must always call the counselee to.
Instead of placing the main focus on their good, I need to help them place their focus first on God’s purpose of His glory, then on God’s purpose for others, and lastly on God’s purpose for their own personal good.
Take the example of Joseph. He faced some very hard, even painful (emotionally and physically) circumstances (Ps. 105: 16-22)
And yes His troubles were good for him, he learned from them, but they were not just good for him. His troubles were also good for his brother’s, They learned some great lessons. His troubles were also good for his father and family, in that they had the food they desperately needed. His troubles also brought about the greatergood of Egypt
I say this because if God had not provided a leader in Joseph, all of Jacob and his sons would have died. And perhaps that does not seem significant, but who came through their line? Jesus Christ did! If they had died their line would have died with it as well!
So crisis is never just about the counselee’s good, but rather about God and His plan and His glory! I must call them to this higher aim!
So crisis is never just about the counselee’s good, but rather about God and His plan and His glory! I must call them to this higher aim!
Romans Our greater good (good focus).
Gen. 50:20 The greater good of others (better focus)
1 Cor. The Glory of God (Best focus)
D. Get involved in what God is doing
This will obviously look different and vary from person to person. I mean look at Job, in his crisis he was called to just endure some very hard and painful experiences, and that he was called on to trust in God day in and out, facing the ridicule of his wife and friends, and not curse God.
Then we look at Joseph, who also went through some very difficult trials.
We see that he was called on to serve as a slave
Psalm 105:16-19
“God called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; and he sent a man before them— Joseph, sold as a slave.
And we also see that he was called to lead:
“The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.” Psalm 105: 20-22
Sometimes we may be called to just sit and wait and to trust God, other times we will be called to more actively be involved. But either way you dice it, we are always called to live with faith in God and to live for His glory and praise and to serve and love others!
Conclusion
Crisis counseling is highly important, because no life is ever totally free from crisis (whether real or imagined). And I must always be available to be used of God as an instrument in the life of another. This will mean that I have to endure trials myself, because that is the only way that God can use me effectively in the life of another:
“Who comforts us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. But the emphasis and focus is never to be placed upon me as a counselor, for I cannot really help people, I am just an instrument, and the player of the instrument is the One we always focus on, the One I call others to focus on as well, for all else fails:
“Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.” Ps. 108:12
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