By Philip Yancey
During a tumultuous week in 2008 in which global stock markets declined by seven trillion dollars, I got a call from Time magazine. “How should a person pray during a crisis like this?” the editor asked. As we spoke, we came up with a three-stage approach to prayer.
The first stage is simple, an instinctive cry for “Help!” Look at Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane. With sweat falling like blood, he felt “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” His prayer, however, changed from “Take this cup from me” to “May your will be done.” Prayer relieved him of anxiety, reaffirmed his trust in a loving Father, and emboldened him to face the cross.
If I pray with intent to listen as well as talk, I can enter into a second stage, that of meditation and reflection. Okay, my life savings has virtually disappeared. What can I learn from this seeming catastrophe? A Sunday school song came to mind: The wise man built his house upon the rock …And the wise man’s house stood firm. And then, The foolish man built his house upon the sand …Oh, the rain came down and the floods came up …
A time of crisis presents a good opportunity to identify the foundation on which I construct my life. If I place my ultimate trust in financial security, or in the government’s ability to solve my problems, I will surely watch the house crumble. (And the foolish man’s house went “splat!”)
The same week of financial collapse, Zimbabwe’s inflation rate hit a record 231 million percent. Which leads me to the third stage of prayer in crisis times: I need God’s help in taking my eyes off my own problems in order to look with compassion on the truly desperate.
In the days of a collapsing Roman empire, Christians stayed behind to nurse plague victims, and wet nurses gathered up babies abandoned along the roadside. What a testimony it would be if during hard times Christians resolved to increase their giving to build houses for the poor, combat AIDS in Africa, and announce kingdom values to a decadent, celebrity-driven culture.
Such a response defies all logic. Unless, of course, we take seriously the moral of Jesus’ simple tale about building houses on a sure foundation.
“Back Page” column, Christianity Today...
Grace Notes: Daily Readings With Philip Yancey
Philip Yancey
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Topic: Christians' Response to Collapse of Economy (Read 395 times)