Life-Changing Verses

Your Life - What to do when times are tough 

'If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.' 2 Chronicles 20:9 


This verse offers hope for every tough situation that you can find yourself experiencing. This verse is in the middle of a calamity for the Hebrew people living in and around Jerusalem. There was a massive army marching toward them that looked like it could wipe them off the face of the earth. Talk about a calamity! 

There is an undercurrent of “calamity” going on in the world today. Sometimes we all feel like everything is out of control. These calamities are so big that they look like the end of the world is just around the corner. Examples of these calamities are the ongoing work to resolve the oil spills, the future of health care in the U.S., and, the impact of natural disasters (hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, etc.) As soon as the world gets though one calamity, another one comes along. It reminds me of when I was a child swimming in the ocean. Wave after wave kept breaking on the shore. Some of those waves were huge and would knock me down and it would hurt. 

Many of us in the United States appreciate that we live in a very unique country in the history of man. When times are good, we say that God has blessed us. However, when times get tough and calamity occurs, we want to get back to the good times as quickly as possible. We all yearn for that “happy place” where life is good and easy. All of us would have to admit that we are “spoiled”. We really want everything to be OK with us every minute of our lives. 

With this “spoiled” attitude, we look on all calamities as bad for us. What is interesting about the verse above is the underlying principle of one of the causes for calamity. Reread the verse and you can see the words “sword of judgment.” God judges. He has to judge. We would not want to live in a world where God does not judge. However, in the verse above the word “us” is used meaning the children of God. As Believers, that’s you and me! In other words, some of the bad times are from God as judgment. Now, compare that with our “spoiled” attitude and the result is a life lived apart from God. A life of fear, uncertainty, and despair. 

The speaker of the verse above is King Jehoshaphat. I have always loved to say his name. He is praying to God about their situation. Notice that Jehoshaphat says that no matter what the calamity is, he and his people will acknowledge God for who He is. Jehoshaphat also says that they will turn to God and seek His help. There are too many people who want someone other than God to help them now a days. In our spoiled situation in the U.S., we always turn to the government to resolve our calamities. King Jehoshaphat was the government! He realized that the calamity that they were facing was beyond human solutions. God answered Jehoshaphat’s prayer by sending the Holy Spirit…everything worked out. 

How should a Believer react to calamities? How do you react to calamities? Consider the following for the calamities in your life. 
(1) There is a God and He is always in control. He created everything and He will bring everything to an end. 
(2) God knows what you are going through and knows how much you can take. All of the calamities that Job went through were with God’s OK. When Jesus was facing the cross, He knew that the pain and torture that He would be experiencing was a necessary part of God’s plan for providing salvation for us. 
(3) Instead of spending time on the “why is this happening to me” question, look for ways to help others through the calamity. After all, Jesus said that all of the commands of God are wrapped up in “love your God with all your strength, mind, and heart and love others as yourself. 
(4) Everything that happens can end in glory to God. This is a tough one but if you think about the eternal versus the temporary, your trust and faith in God will grow. He knows what He is doing. 

Back to my personal example of riding the waves: it hurt sometimes when I got knocked down by the big waves. But I liked the big waves…they were fun. So, I’d go right back into the ocean to wait on the next big wave. I would have missed the exhilaration of riding out a big wave if I had given up and just sat on the beach watching the waves. It sure was fun to experience the waves. Consider it pure joy when you face many trials (James 1:2).