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I love the Fibber McGee and Molly radio broadcasts! One of the running gags on this show was Fibber’s closet: People who mistakenly opened the closet door got buried under a pile of stuff that Fibber had stashed away.
In one episode, Molly is determined to grow through all of the items that were strewn across the floor before they got shoved back into the closet. One by one Molly asked Fibber about all of the odd knick-knacks and he had a good explanation for every single one justifying why he couldn’t possibly part with it. One of my favorites was this—“What’s this bamboo pole,” Molly asked, and Fibber said, “Why, that pole is very important. If I was ever offered to be Joe Louis’ sparing partner, that’s the ten-foot pole I wouldn’t touch it with!”
I’m afraid that many of us have closets like this in our minds. We’ve accumulated a lot of just-in-case stuff for each and every scenario that may come upon us at some point in our lives.
All of our contingency plans implies that something is going to go wrong and that only the prepared and well-stocked will make it through.
(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)
Psalm 107 is the first psalm in Book 5 of the Psalter—the book that focuses mostly on praise. This author is recounting the history of Israel through the times of crisis:
- lost and homeless (v. 4)
- hungry and thirsty (vv. 5, 9)
- trouble and distress (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28)
- darkness and deepest gloom (vv. 10, 14)
- prisoners in chains (v. 10)
- knocking on death’s door (v. 18)
- terrorized (v. 26)
- at their wits’ end (v. 27)
We quickly go into crisis mode when we forget that God is in control!
In God’s Kingdom there is no emergency, no crisis, no Plan B. God is sovereignly in control—Isaiah 46:10.
- God is in control of the macro—Genesis 1:1; Job 38:4-11
- God is in control of the micro—Psalm 139:16; Jeremiah 29:11
- God will use what we call a crisis to display His glory—Exodus 14:4 NLT
When you feel yourself spiraling into crisis mode—when you feel you’re at your wits’ end—you can get back into contentment mode.
“When a man is at his wits’ end it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way he can get in touch with Reality.” —Oswald Chambers
That’s what Job finally did—Job 42:1-2.
And that’s also what the psalmist did—Psalm 107:6-8, 13-15, 19-21, 28-31.
Prayer is a great rescue in trouble, and ongoing thankfulness is a great inoculation against going into crisis mentality. Notice that those four repeated phrases have both cried out to the Lord AND Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love.
Let’s strive to remain aware of His unfailing love by cultivating consistent gratitude. I like v. 2 from the NLT: “Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others He has redeemed you from your enemies”. When you are preoccupied with telling others and yourself how good God is, there isn’t room in your heart for the worry that leads toward crisis mode.
Remember: We can quickly go from contentment mode to crisis mode when we forget that God is in control, so remain full of thanks. “At all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father” (Ephesians 5:20 AMPC).
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Craig T. Owens 