Florida Hurricane

Hurricane Michael Facts

What are some disappointments we have in this life? Or that you have had to face?

How do you handle disappointment?

You got a bad grade in school

Pray

Your loved one didn’t get healed of their sickness

You didn’t get that new phone, bike, etc…you were praying for

Your team lost an important game against a rival team

Your bully still picks on you even when you prayed it would stop

Your still have tension in your home life, or strain in your relationships with friends

Does God want us to be happy? Is happiness His main priority?

How do we respond to God when tragedy strikes?

Grieve. Its ok to disappointed. Its ok to be frustrated. It’s ok to be hurt.

Show pictures of the Hurricane

Homes destroyed with no insurance

That car you just paid off, completely destroyed

That family member you were praying for safety for, injured or killed

We deal with tragedy in this manner:

Remember that all suffering and disappointment is temporary. One day God is going to completely do away with evil, and the tragedies and disappointments that come with it.

1. I Need to Release My Grief

When you go through a tragedy, which is inevitably going to happen, the first thing you need to do is release your grief. Why? Because tragedy always creates strong emotions.

Did you feel any emotions this week?  We don’t always know what to do with our feelings.  If you don’t deal with them, but instead stuff them deep, your recovery from a crisis always takes far longer than it should. 

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 In fact many people use God as an excuse for this, believing that God wants everybody to have a happy face all the time. But real life isn’t always happy.  God doesn’t expect you to be smiling all the time.

Jesus said in , “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

2. I Rely on Christ

Christians get to approach tragedy differently than the rest of the world. We get to rely completely on Christ. We get to have hope. But how? By intentionally leaning on Christ for stability, listening to Christ for direction, and looking to Christ for salvation. He is our Rock, our Shelter, our Great Shepherd, our Hiding Place.

3. I Need to Receive From Others

The Bible says, “Carry each other’s burdens… By helping each other with your troubles, you obey the Law of Christ” ( NCV). It is a big mistake to isolateyourself from others when you’re going through a crisis. Our tendency is to want to be by ourselves, but you need other people in a tragedy.

2. I Need to Receive From Others

You need their perspective, you need their support, you need their encouragement, and you just need their presence.

4. I Need to Refuse to be Bitter

Happiness is a choice. You refuse to be bitter, because bitterness always hurts you. It never changes anything. Blaming others never changes anything.  It only makes you feel worse.

In the ministry I’ve seen people who had every right in the world to whine and who chose not to do so. Happiness is a choice. You refuse to be bitter, because bitterness always hurts you. It never changes anything. Blaming others never changes anything.  It only makes you feel worse.

How do you keep from being bitter when the inevitable tragedies of life are going to come?

You accept what cannot be changed.You focus on what’s left, not what’s lost.

5. I Remember What is Important

You need their perspective, you need their support, you need their encouragement, and you just need their presence. To make it through a crisis, we need not only the promises of God; we need the people of God.

Disasters have a way of clarifying our values and pointing out what matters and what really doesn’t matter.  Jesus said, “Life is not measured by how much one owns.”( , NCV).

Don’t confuse your net worth with your self worth.  Don’t confuse your possessions with your purpose in life.  Don’t confuse what you’re living on with what you’re living for.  A man’s life does not consist of what he possesses.  What matters are relationships.  You’re never going to see a hearse with a U-Haul behind it, so build your life on something that can never be taken from you.

Can you lose a home? Yes. Can you lose a career? Yes. Can you lose a marriage? Yes. Can you lose your health? Yes. Can you lose your youthful beauty? Yes. Can you lose your relationship with God? No.

Remember that all suffering and disappointment is temporary. One day God is going to completely do away with evil, and the tragedies and disappointments that come with it.

Remember that all suffering and disappointment is temporary. One day God is going to completely do away with evil, and the tragedies and disappointments that come with it.

Christians get to approach tragedy differently than the rest of the world. We get to rely completely on Christ. We get to have hope. But how? By intentionally leaning on Christ for stability, listening to Christ for direction, and looking to Christ for salvation. He is our Rock, our Shelter, our Great Shepherd, our Hiding Place.

Editor’s Note: At Pastors.com and Saddleback Church, we’ve all been in a place of mourning for our pastor, Rick Warren, his wife, Kay, and their entire family after the loss of their youngest son, Matthew, who ended his own life recently after a very long battle with mental illness. You can read Pastor Rick’s words to the Saddleback family for yourself. We who are near Pastor Rick have drawn strength from his 30-plus years of teaching biblical truth, and out of that teaching, we’ve adapted the preceding transcript from a message delivered over a decade ago at Saddleback. Hear Pastor Rick’s words and let them speak to you in your own places of tragedy and loss.