We ought to throw open the doors of our sanctuaries and call the assembly of the saints! Gathering in twos and threes, tens or dozens to cry out to the Lord, reading His Word, praising, praying, and repenting for our sins and the sins committed by the nations against the Lord and His anointed (Psalm 2).

When we are faced with crises, a difficulty, or suffering, what is our response?

What should it be?

Too often my first response isn’t to run to the Lord. Instead it’s fear, frustration, or fretting. All too easily we all get upset and react out of emotion, letting feelings drive our thoughts and actions. Stress responses, like anger, short-term focus, and adrenaline rising, we just want to run away or be rescued from it.

In short, our primary crisis mode is very human. But for the children of Almighty God, we have a loving heavenly Father who is a strong tower, and the righteous run to it. The sheep of His pasture have a Good Shepherd who tends His flock, leading us to green pastures and still waters.

Our First Response May Not Be to Return to the Father’s House, but Our Second Should Be.

In the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, he returns to Jerusalem to lead the people of God tp repair the city’s broken walls. In chapter 8 we read:

So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month…v 6, And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground…v 13, And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law…v 18, Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.

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