Like many of you, I’ve had the unfortunate privilege of picking up the pieces following a crisis that ripped through our student ministry. In our case, it was a murder-suicide. I also was touched personally by the tragedy at Columbine High School, as our good friends’ niece, Rachel Scott, was killed that day.
In my own journey, two scenes in Scripture have brought needed perspective. While this column does not answer all the questions, perhaps you’ll gain insight to a crisis you have navigated or will navigate with young people.
SCRIPTURE
Scene 1 is the moment just before Nebuchadnezzar fired up the furnace. Scene 2 takes place during some of the church’s fiercest persecution in the Book of Acts.
SCENE 1
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king…“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
SCENE 2
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. … Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. … “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. … When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches…”
THINK ABOUT IT
These scenes, more htan any others in Scripture, help me fight the notion that because God is a loving God who is in control, everything always will turn out fine. Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego had full faith they would be delivered, yet they still left God some wiggle room with the two-word phrase: “but even.”
In Acts, two prominent apostles were captured: James was put to death by the sword; Peter was rescued by an angle. Go figure.
APPLY IT
Isaiah gave us the image of God’s grieving people receiving beauty from crisis instead of ashes. Here, beauty certainly resulted from ashes. Shadrach and friends, facing the furnace, were rescued (not even smelling of ash), causing Nebuchadnezzar to praise God! In Acts, despite the loss of James— perhaps even because of this loss—the church grew, and it is still growing.
While I still smell the ashes of crises, beauty has emerged. Following both crises, new ministries were birthed to meet the needs of those in similar situations and to help teens sidestep the pitfalls that can lead to these kinds of tragedies. We want it all to be fine; but even if it’s not—and as we minister we will surely have our share of “not”—Scripture can help us comfort teens with the hope beauty will come.
