Focus 2020 – The Great Commission: Perspectives from LeadersSample

Never Waste a Good Crisis 

Bible passage: 

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:6-9 

Devotional: 

The phrase, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” is a popular piece of sage advice often attributed to Winston Churchill. Before Churchill or any other politician used it, our enemy deployed it against the church and its mission. In 1 Peter 5:6-9, Peter warns the churches of Asia Minor that the devil uses times of persecution, trouble, and anxiety as opportunities to “devour” believers. Just about anyone in ministry knows that crises have an interesting way of “stacking up” like wickedly repurposed Lego blocks of doom. Personnel conflicts arise in the midst of illnesses. A security crisis explodes during critical board meetings. Of course, Satan isn’t responsible for our sinfulness, nor does he cause hurricanes or earthquakes. Satan does take advantage of them. Satan takes a metaphorical crowbar and spreads the pre-existing fissures and fault lines in our soul and our relationships so as to weaken our faith and hinder our mission. He leverages our fear, anxiety, anger, and our disappointment to produce “collateral damage” in the church. As the disappointments, troubles, and anxieties stack up, to what can we appeal? 

Peter reminds us of the need to be alert and discerning about the activities of the enemy (verse 8). There may be more to our situation than first meets the eye. As Western Christians, we sometimes neglect the spiritual undercurrents flowing around us. However, the answer to the attacks of our enemy is active resistance (verse 9). In the original Greek, Peter literally writes: “Standing firm in the faith and knowing that your fellow believers around the world are undergoing the same sufferings, resist him.” Our resistance in times of trouble, persecution, and anxiety is based on two things: active faith in Christ and our fellowship in the sufferings of the global church. As we stand firm on these two realities, we are like a tree planted on the banks of a river (Psalm 1). The flood waters released by our enemy cannot topple us because we are firmly rooted in Christ.  

Moreover, we do not suffer alone because we “know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (verse 9). Christ mobilizes the fortitude and resistance of the persecuted global church to strengthen our resolve. All of these sufferings together draw us closer to our Lord, whose sufferings on the Cross have liberated us. Participation in Christ’s sufferings is a big step toward “the goal for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:7-14). May God give you the strength to stand firm alongside the global church as we together actively resist our enemy. 

Quote: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 

Question: Has the current pandemic crisis been a waste or a profit to you personally? How?  

Zachary King 

Director, Resonate Global Mission