lucy got it right

Let´s talk about step number one of What To Do When Trouble Comes.  How do we cooperate with God so that His reasons for allowing this pandemic to fall upon us will cause His goals to be accomplished in our lives?

Do you remember Charles Shultz “Peanuts?”  I read the cartoon strip “religiously” from the time I learned to read until I went off to college and did not have a daily newspaper handy.

• Lucy Van Pelt, psychiatrist of Peanuts had her sign out again.  “Counseling 5 cents”
• Charlie Brown pays his nickel and asks, “Why do I feel so inadequate?” 
• Lucy answered, “Because you are so inadequate!”

Why do I feel inadequate to assure that I keep my family and myself safe from COVID-19?

Why do I feel so inadequate to navigate the financial troubles that this pandemic has brought?

Why do I feel so inadequate to make the necessary decisions to let the church re-gather at the right time and in a safe way?

The answer is easy to figure out.  It is just hard to accept.

I am inadequate!

And that brings us to the first thing we need to do when walking through difficult times.

Step # 1 - WE MUST ADMIT OUR INADEQUACY.
Who is sufficient?  2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NKJV   14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?

Not me!  2 Corinthians 3:4-6 NKJV   4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

I am insufficient to handle this by myself and with my own power.

• when a loved one dies
• when illness comes
• when the job fails
• when natural disaster strikes

Because...

• I cannot lengthen life nor stop death.
• I have no power of healing to dispense to myself or others.
• There are many factors surrounding any situation that I cannot control.
• Even the President and Congress cannot alleviate all the difficulty.

 I must depend on One who has more power than I possess.

Galatians 2:20 NKJV   I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Let me raise a translation issue.  It is a matter of great consequence.  The Greek can be translated both ways.  So, is it

• faith in Christ? (Christ is the object of my faith)
• faith of Christ? (Christ is the source of my faith)
• Yes!  Both!

 
When great trials and difficulty come, and if you have matured enough in your walk with the Lord that you recognize God is up to something, then purpose in your heart, “I want God’s will to be done in and through me,” and start your cooperation with what God is doing by admitting “I am inadequate to handle this by myself. It must be Christ in me!”

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