How To Get Through A Crisis

Opening

• Pastor Bryan Loritts reflects on his time at a pastors’ retreat. Dr. Jerry Sittser was a keynote speaker at the retreat

• Dr. Jerry Sittser first thoughts came from a soul that had suffered and not from a deep theology knowledge

• Dr. Jerry Sittser shares how on a road trip he was hit on by a drunk driver and lost his mother, wife, and daughters

• He wrote about his grief in a book called “A Grace Disguised” and Dr. Sittser found himself in a crisis

• “A crisis occurs when the events of life leaves us with far more questions than answers”

• In Psalms 13, you can tell David is experiencing a crisis

Sermon Key Points

• In Psalms 13, David asked God questions and he has far more questions than answers. David asked several times “How Long”?

• Have you ever found yourself in a crisis?

• The question is when the crisis comes do I know how to navigate it and see my way through?

• David is in the middle of a crisis and is being ambushed on all sides. He is being ambushed psychologically 

• The problem is not the suffering but not knowing how long the suffering will last

• Another problem with the crisis is it is deeply spiritual

• Psalm 13:1- “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?

• John 4: tells us that God is spirit but in order for God to make himself clear to us we often ascribe human anatomy to God to get clarity on who he is

• In the Bible, the face of God was the favor and blessings of God. In Psalms 13, David is saying he does not have the favor of God in that moment

• He feels that God has forgotten about him

• Psalms 13:3- David is making a demand to God to consider and answer him. Psychologists say these are words of the clinical depressed. 

• How do you get through a crisis?

• You have to bring your feelings to God . Be honest and process those feelings

• Where does our paradigm for God come from?

• The all knowing God and you are hiding how you feel from God

• Psalms 13:5- “But I have trusted in your steadfast love”

• Nothing in the text suggests the crisis is over. Then all of a sudden he moves from feelings to facts

• Your feelings are the strongest part of who you are and also the shallowest part of who you are 

• What is steadfast love? “Steadfast love is when the person whom I have the right to expect nothing from gives me everything” 

• Exodus 34:6-7-God tells Israel He will give them everything when they didn’t serve it

• God gave us EVERYTHING when he gave us his Son Jesus Christ