Dealing with and Overcoming Crisis

We have a mental health crisis.

We have an addiction crisis.

We have a spiritual crisis.

Despair and depression, like two peas in a pod, are sweeping the land. We tend to measure such things by their economic impact, but it is the personal impact that really matters; for those who despair of life are taking their life as the solution. And the dark days of depression suck the life out of those who live under that cloud.

Loneliness and its accompanying hopelessness are like a plague that moves from person to person leaving tears and heartache as the symptoms of a deep rooted problem. Friendships have been broken by the deep divisions within our society leaving many lonely, and with a fear of friendship. Broken families have added to the problem.

An overwhelming sense of fear permeates many lives, as fear is continually being fed by politicians, preachers, media personalities, and social media influencers. Plus there are the legitimate fears of today’s world that take their toll on us—the fear of violence, the fear of rejection, the fear of disease, and the fear of economic insecurity. These fears can become overwhelming and take control of our lives, so every decision is made out of fear.

A plethora of anxieties cause us to live in a constant state of worry, and to continually ask ourselves, what if? Every decision creates anxiety filled days and sleepless nights.

Our children have to deal with active shooter drills, and lock-downs, and too often the realities of gun fire. There is an epidemic of senseless violence that sweeps across the land from time to time creating anxious moments, breaking news, thoughts and prayers, tough talk from politicians, and then…nothing. How did we allow ourselves to lose all common sense and reason? When did we come to the decision that people can have rights without the responsibilities that go with those rights?

So yes, we have a mental health crisis; not only with the named mental illnesses, but with those things I’ve listed above.

We have an addiction crisis.

More and more people are self-medicating their fears, worries, loneliness, despair, and depression. The so-called “war on drugs” was declared in the 1980’s. We lost that war a long time ago. Truth be told we didn’t even win any battles, only a few skirmishes. Illegal drugs are still plentiful on our city streets and our rural back roads. To fail to see the drug problem is to stick our heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich, and refuse to see the danger that is right in front of us. Despite all our efforts to educate our children about the dangers of drugs, including alcohol, the use continues to rise.

We have a long list of treatment programs and residential programs that are too often revolving doors where people get “clean,” and then go back on the street and start using again.

Despite the untold billions of dollars that have been spent on drug enforcement, drug education, and drug treatments, the pipelines for drugs are still open, people still use, and long-term illnesses and overdose deaths continue at an alarming rate.

But we’re not only addicted to drugs and alcohol, there are other addictions that plague us as well; addictions that lead to sex trafficking, using people, including children, for sexual pleasures and so much more.

So yes, we have an addiction crisis.

We have a spiritual crisis.

In some ways our spiritual crisis is directly related to our mental health and addiction crises.

Some have chosen to reject God. Some have chosen to ignore God. Some have chosen to do battle with God, and fight anything that has to do with faith or spirituality. In recent years we’ve seen pews empty and church doors closed and locked. Where people once worshiped and served the Lord our God, there are now restaurants, bars, and apartments.

“Your prophets have seen for you

false and deceptive visions;

they have not exposed your iniquity

to restore your fortunes,

but have seen oracles for you

that are false and misleading.” (Lamentations 2:14)

For many people places of worship have become irrelevant. If we’re going to make an honest assessment, churches have often been irrelevant as they’ve failed to meet the spiritual needs of a modern world in their desire to hold on to old traditions and familiar ways of doing things. So, it can be argued, that it is a two-way street in at least some cases. The church has sometimes become so much a part of the world that people cannot separate the two.

And what has happened as we’ve watched spirituality decline? How much better off are we as more people have rejected God, ignored God, or waged battle against God, faith, and spirituality? How much more chaos can we stand?

When will the anger subside? When will the hate end? When will the divisiveness stop?

“For my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living water,

and dug for themselves cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns

that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

Like the people of Israel who wandered in the wilderness of Sinai for forty years, many Christians today are wandering in the wilderness of our own making.

We’ve let go of the Rock of Ages, and we’re wandering here and there trying to find our way.

The solutions to our crises are not easy. The questions are: Are we willing to use common sense and reason again, or will we refuse to think for ourselves, refuse to use the reasoning ability given us by our Creator, and refuse to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Are we willing to see beyond our differences and find common ground? Are we willing to stop the arguing and begin encouraging?

The world is on fire, and some Christians are still arguing over who can say what, when and where.

And here, my friends, is the danger we face with our spiritual crisis today: “And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.” (Ezekiel 22:30)

The wall of faith, the wall of spirituality, is broken. And the problem is we’re not willing to stand in the breach on behalf of the land, because we’re too busy arguing about politics, church polity, whose right, and the finer points of doctrine.

“But I found no one.” Will those words be the spiritual commentary on our times?

I close with words of HOPE!

“For I, the Lord your God,

hold your right hand;

it is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear,

I will help you.’” (Isaiah 41:13)

“The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth,

He does not faint or grow weary;

His understanding is unsearchable.” (Isaiah 40:28)

We can deal with and overcome these crises of our times. The question before us is…will we?