Fear or Hope? The Most Important Choice You Make Every DaySample

"I never expected to be here."

Nearly all of us have said something like this when a crisis moment showed up for which we felt unprepared.

A medical diagnosis we didn't see coming.

A family member betraying or abandoning us.

A financial disaster draining our savings.

It would be helpful if crisis moments provided advanced warning or sent a calendar request like a thoughtful coworker.

Many years ago, I was hired for a pastoral position, not knowing I had inherited a crisis moment. My situation differed significantly from the job I was told about in the interview. The longer I stayed in that job, the more painful discoveries I had and the more cynical I became.

Each day produced increasing fear and confusion. I was wounded repeatedly and put up walls of cynicism. I began to respond and lead out of that. Finally, someone I cared about profoundly came to me and said, "Scott, where's the hope? You point out all that's wrong and broken around here. But I'm depressed, and I've lost five friends to suicide in the last year or so. I need hope, and I don't hear any in you." That conversation over coffee convinced me that something needed to change.

If there's one big idea in this plan, it's this;1 how we respond to crisis moments reveals whether we live in fear or hope.

When I finally realized how wounded and cynical I'd become, God took me to a place I had repeatedly overlooked in the Bible. It was the place I got stuck every time I tried to read the Bible in a year. The Book of Numbers is far more than lists of people and collections of large numbers. Numbers includes a powerful story of a few people who ended up where they never planned to be, experiencing emotions they struggled to process and acting out fear rather than hope.

As I wore out the middle part of Numbers, God showed me how His people responded to a crisis moment. He showed me some profound lessons that I've been trying to put into practice ever since then.

I look forward to encouraging you through this plan if you're in a crisis or a season of adversity and suffering. You may not be where you planned to be, but you are not alone here. God is present with you! As hard as it may be to see, God is at work in this circumstance. We serve a God who wastes nothing and finishes the work He starts in and through us.

On the following day of the plan, I'll show you how one small shift can help you determine what you must do next in this crisis.