Strategies for Dealing with Crisis: Stress

When a crisis arises, it will undoubtedly come with it a tremendous amount of stress. In fact, the last strategy we discussed was a specific stressor of losing control of the situation and how important it is to control what we can and let God handle the rest. Another strategy for dealing with a crisis is to master our stress during the situation. It is important that in times of crisis, we try and master the way we allow the stress of the situation to affect us. In times of stress, we must lean on God and allow Him to provide for our needs.

When I think about a character in the scriptures that dealt with a lot of stress in a crisis, I think about Elijah in 1 Kings 19. He is fleeing from Jezebel after just defeating the prophets of Baal, and he runs into the desert, lays down, and asks God to take him. Elijah was stressed to the max and was at the point where he no longer desired to live. In times of crisis, we, too, can find ourselves in a similar place. We are facing so much stress that we don’t know how to take anymore. But notice what God does for Elijah. He allowed Elijah to sleep and provided food for him twice, and then Elijah was able to get up and go on in the pursuit of God’s will.

The only way we will become a master of our stress is to reach out to God and allow Him to take on our burden. Psalm 55:22 states, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved.” God desires for us to reach out to Him and not allow our stress to get the better of us. This is important at all times, but especially in times of crisis. Some ways we can allow God to comfort us and take care of us the way He took care of Elijah are by spending time in prayer to Him and praising and worshiping Him through song. It is also important that we spend time in His word and reach out to others who can support us. We are not alone in the midst of our crisis; God is with us, and we need only to reach out to Him.