Behaviour in a Crisis

"Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” This statement occurs twice in the Scriptures– in Isaiah 53. 4 and in Matt. 8. 17. An examination of the two passages will show that whereas Isaiah is speaking of the Passion of the Lord, Matthew, on the other hand, is speaking of a typical day in His earthly life. Isaiah shows that in the great crisis of Calvary, the Lord put the needs of others first, Matthew shows that to put others first was nothing new to the Lord; He had been doing that every day of His life; day by day, He had been sacrificing ease and comfort in order to succour others, before eventually the hour came for Him to lay down life itself for them.

The lesson to us is plain. We all desire that if ever there should come a supreme crisis in our lives, we might rise to the occasion, and acquit ourselves as a Christian should; but in fact it is very probable that in the great crisis we shall act just as we have been in the habit of acting in the uneventful “everyday” of our lives. If we have day by day, in the small details of life, consistently made a practice of thinking of others more than of self, it will come almost naturally to act in the same spirit in the hour of supreme trial; but if we have habitually put our own interests and comfort first, it will be hard to act differently when the emergency comes.

Think About This

Prayer is the bow. The promise of God is the arrow. And faith is the hand which draws the bow and sends the arrow with the heart’s message to heaven. The bow without the arrow is of no use, and the arrow without the bow is of little worth. But neither is of great value without the strength of the hand. The promise of God without prayer, or prayer without the promise, avails the Christian very little. But put the two together with the hand of faith and all heaven is moved to grant the request. How are you praying? Use all the equipment and God will find the answer. – Selected. Light and Liberty.