The world is in the midst of a crisis. Some are fighting anxiety, depression, worry, fear, and the overall emotional taxation of our current predicament. Some are in financial bondage. They have lost their job, house, and their security. Some are fighting for their lives against sickness, disease, and plague. While home, with a plethora of time to consider their life choices, stare at their declining bank account, and watch the news spreading fear and panic, it seems we all have experienced some penetrating questions arise. Why did this happen? Could I have done something different to prevent our personal situation? How am I going to provide? Where am I going to get help from? When is this going to be over? Will I ever be the same after this? How am I ever going to get out of this mess? Will my family be ok? Is this all my fault? Is it someone else’s fault? What do I need to do? … So many questions, and these are just the generic ones that scratch the surface of the concerns that many are facing. But there is only one question we should be asking ourselves. I heard a story the other day by a minister that helps illustrate that questions potency.
He told of how he was ministering in a church and asked if anyone would like to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior or if anyone who was saved at one point but had backslid out of fellowship with God. One man took him up on the offer. This man went down to the altar and prayed. He came back to the minister with a sad look on his face. The minister inquired about the man’s countenance. The man responded with, “He didn’t take me back.” The man went up to the altar and didn’t feel anything like he felt the first time he got saved and came back with the conclusion that the Lord didn’t accept him. The minister, recognizing this by how the man responded, asked the man, “Now I don’t mean this wrong, but did you go down to the altar mockingly towards God? Or did you go down sincerely?” the man answered, “I went down sincere! The Lord knows I went down sincere!” So the minister said “So you went down to the altar, repented of your sins, asked the Lord for forgiveness, and He didn’t take you back?” and the man said “yes.” The minister then said, “Ok, that settles it. God’s a liar. He said in His Word He would forgive you and you would be saved but He didn’t. So God’s a liar.” And the minister turned around and walked away from the man. The minister only took a few steps until he heard the man behind him start shouting and rejoicing. The minister turned back around, and then the man said to the minister, “You know God forgave me down there at the altar and I didn’t have the sense to recognize it?”
You see the man placed more stock in how he felt, and what things looked like, then he put in what God said. Once he realized that God can’t lie, he finally believed and accepted his salvation! His faith overrode his doubt, his fear, and his feelings. He began to rejoice, and the feelings came later. So then, the only question that we should ask in times of crisis is:
“Is God a liar?”
When you feel alone in your fight, and the emotional heartache begins to wear on you, Remember:
“Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions and be satisfied with your present circumstances and with what you have; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down (relax My hold on you)! Assuredly not!”
–Hebrews 13:5 (AMPC)
And then ask yourself, “IS GOD A LIAR?” I am not alone, He is WITH me!
When you’ve looked at your declining bank account for too long, the bills are piling up, and the fridge is running out of food, Remember:
“And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
-Philippians 4:19 (AMPC)
And ask yourself, “Is God a Liar?” He said that He will liberally supply all my needs. That is the only truth I will focus on.
When sickness and fear would try to steal your confidence, Remember:
“Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains of punishment, yet we ignorantly considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.”
-Isaiah 53:4-5 (AMPC)
And ask yourself, “Is God a Liar?” He bore my grief, sickness, weakness, and distress. He was wounded for my forgiveness, and chastised so I could obtain peace. He took stripes on His back for my Healing.
Will you believe what God says or what your bank account says. Will you listen to what God says or what your worries say. Will you believe in the truth of your current circumstances, or the Truth of God’s Word. God is not a liar. What He said is True, it requires us to believe it, and accept this truth in our life through faith. So, I encourage you, turn off the news and turn on some praise and worship. Quit studying the world’s economic state, and start studying the Word of God. Stop staring at your bank account and fix your gaze on Christ. Block out all other questions, and ask, Is God a liar?
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