Tag Archives: help

Can God help in time of crisis? And if He helps, how does He do it?

That we may walk in faith according to the Gospel of Grace we have accepted, which we proclaim as the Gospel of timely relief

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:10

Surely we are all familiar with the evangelizing slogan that many Pentecostal-type churches have used in the past to show how God intervenes in each person’s personal situation, I mean the expression: God is the answer!

Now, I find it necessary to write precisely not about such a slogan, but rather about the word of trust that a son or daughter of faith has in the help that Jesus offers in the midst of times of crisis.

Can God help in time of crisis? Yes, God definitely intervenes, and helps in the midst of times of crisis, and He does so literally. It is enough to open any book of the Bible where the suffering, individual or collective, of one who has willingly believed in Him is narrated, as to realize the miraculous and supernatural way that God uses to “save” those who invoke Him. The Bible also tells us that God is the same for all centuries,[1] that in Him there is no shadow of variation;[2] this, for those who can argue that such supernatural intervention was a thing of the past, and that in the present He does so only through the scientific resources that man has developed.

God helps, and spares no effort or resource in doing so; this foundation of faith is laid down by David in his Psalms, when he acknowledges that God does not abandon those who wait upon Him,

I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Psalm 37:25

So we have two strong strengths of faith to which we can turn to sustain our confidence that He will do, and not leave us ashamed; the testimony of what God did in the past, and the testimony of a man – David – who saw how God brought him out from behind his father’s sheep to place him as king of Israel.

How does God help? This is the part that we need to understand, because in many cases we pretend to see the solution, or we ask for the solution to come as we ask for it; and unfortunately, we do not manage to see the help that God gave us, and how He saved us in the middle of the crisis.

The first thing we need to understand, and establish as a foundation of faith, is that crises confront all inhabitants of the earth, believers or unbelievers. This is necessary to establish properly, because unfortunately a religious philosophy has been inserted into the Gospel that seeks to establish “immunity” from crises to one who has believed in the Lord.

There is no biblical basis that we can cite to say that a son/daughter of the faith is exempt from crises; even if we see the reference in Psalm 91: A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee, we shall see that in that psalm no immunity is proclaimed, but rather protection when things for the time being have been raging against us; the conclusion of the same psalm explains it better: I will be with him in trouble: I will deliver him, and honour him.

We will be confronted by crises on more than one occasion, by natural situations in the regions where we live, as the psalmist well warns in another of his psalms,

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

Or, simply, because spiritually we have been chosen as a target by the darkness of the place,

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: Luke 22:31 (see also the case of Job: Job 1:8-12)

In any case, when God allows us to go through such critical experiences, He does so to strengthen our faith, as the apostle Peter explains,

that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 1st. Peter 1:7

Or, to establish a testimony before those who know us, of faith in His name.

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed. Psalm 79:10

Trust in God is measured not by how well people think of you as a man/woman of God, but by how they see you reacting in the midst of difficulties.

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? Psalm 115:2

The apostle Peter explains that critical times establish the best way to witness to faith in Jesus,

but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 1st. Peter 3:15

The second thing that we need to understand is the way God helps, and to do this we must bear in mind that God does not solve the difficulties, nor does He give us the solution in the terms that we ask Him, it is not the way to operate in God, nor the way to help His saints; in other words, God is not a problem solver. God makes us go through the events without suffering the same damage as the one who does not have his trust in the Lord, this is the way God helps. The explanation is presented by the Lord Jesus Himself, when He said

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

In other of His teachings, Jesus explained that the way to remain unaffected by critical situations is to embrace the Peace that He gives to those who understand how He operates,

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

The help that God gives does not consist in the solution of the conflict or the crisis, in the style of how we ask Him, that is an unbiblical argument, it is a philosophical and religious argument; the help that God gives consists in not letting us suffer the same damage that affected the one who did not trust in the Lord. The psalmist David states that God sends angels to watch over and deliver from danger,

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Psalm 91:11

The psalmist David also states that God delivers his people from being convicted of infamy,

He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. Psalm 57:3

And save also the unrighteous who rise up to smite the righteous,

The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Psalm 110:2

The third thing we must understand is about the joy we must show in the midst of critical times. Jesus established in his doctrine that the life of faith does not consist in the things you have, but in the joy and rejoicing in the things you have, even if they are few,

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Matthew 6:25

And He added, that in this consists the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven,

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33

The apostle Paul, for his part, stated in his epistle to the Thessalonians that a son/daughter of faith must be content with everything that happens to him:

In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1st. Thessalonians 5:18

In another of his epistles, Paul states that the measure of faith is based on the contentment that the man/woman of faith develops for the things they have, as sufficient things, without desiring others:

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Philippians 4:12

In another of his teachings, Paul stated that the life of faith is strengthened in the satisfaction of seeing oneself not as one who needs material things to be satisfied with life,

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; Romans 5:3

All this, so that we may eventually become guides to those who embraced faith in Jesus, and help them reach that for which they were also reached,

who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 2nd. Corinthians 1:4

Peace that surpasses all understanding be with you.

The biblical quotations are taken from the Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)

Pastor Pedro Montoya

WhatsApp 1 (407) 764-2699

Follow us on Twitter: @pastormontoya

https://earthenwarevessels.com/

[1] Hebrews 13:8

[2] James 1:7