Calamities can leave us off balance and confused. Consider the crisis of Joseph’s generation as recorded in Genesis 47: “Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Canaan languished because of the famine” (Genesis 47:13 NKJV).

Joseph faced a calamity on a global scale. Joseph told his brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you” (Genesis 45:5-7 NKJV). Joseph began and ended his crisis with God. God preceded the famine; God would outlive the famine.

How would you describe your crisis? Do you recite your woes more naturally than you do heaven’s strength? You’re assuming God isn’t in the crisis; he is. Even a famine was fair game for God’s purpose.

Read more You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Turbulent Times

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