Leaving the Bondage of Crisis
Be still and know that I am God
Psalm 46:10
Years ago I heard about a marshmallow experiment with children to test their ability to delay gratification. We did this experiment with three of our kids who were all between 3 & 7 just to see what their reactions would be. We set up a camera and had them sit at a table with a sweet treat in front of them telling them that if they waited for us to come back into the room, they would receive a double reward, but if they ate the sweet treat they would not get more. Each of them waited somewhat patiently, though all with different coping skills. One refused to look at the treat so as not to be tempted, another sang songs and another verbally encouraged themself to wait. It was fun to see their inner thoughts come out when they thought no one was around and I was pleased that they all were willing to wait.
What I did not know at the time was that this experiment has been conducted a few times and has shown that children who grow up in stability are more likely to wait, while the children who grew up in less stable environments did not know how to plan for the future-even 15 minutes in the future. They had little hope for a good outcome so they took whatever was available here and now. The study followed them for years and found that the children who could not wait had less desirable outcomes in their adult life-more instability. These children then became teens and adults who still reached for instant gratification because they had no hope or vision for the future. We know that, “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” (Proverbs 29:18a KJV) and this study just serves as proof to what the Word has said all along.
Without a hope and vision for the future people perish, it may not always be a physical death, but a spiritual, emotional and financial death are sure to come when you cannot look to the future with hope and a plan. When a crisis happens it is normal to not be able to see past the current circumstances, you cannot plan for tomorrow when the situation is changing by the minute. But once the crisis has settled, a plan must be made.
Many people grew up in crisis mode, they didn’t know if they would be eating dinner, if their parents were coming home that day or what trauma they would be experiencing. Growing up in crisis often creates an inability to plan for the future, causing poor decision making putting them into further bondage of debt, addiction, poverty and more. It also causes those in that mindset to panic when another dilemma comes along and in that panic and irrationality, make more bad decisions.
We see an example of this behavior in Exodus 14 and multiple other times in Exodus. The Isrealites have fled Egypt but when Pharaoh pursued them, they panicked and wanted to go back into slavery. These people had grown up as slaves, they grew up in a state of crisis, even after seeing the hand of God protect them and take them out of Egypt, they saw no hope when the next emergency hit and made irrational statements and decisions.
In Exodus 14:14 we see the answer to how we should react when a catastrophe hits, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” The following verse the Lord gives the instructions for their next steps, to cross the Red Sea where He crushed the enemy for them. Instead of running around in an anxious panic, the Lord wants us to stop, look to Him and allow Him to direct our steps so we can see victory.
If you find yourself in a panic or making decisions without thinking of the future, stop and look to the Father, know that He is a good God who loves you and wants what is best for you, even if it means delaying gratification. Ask Holy Spirit to lead you in the next steps that will lead to an abundant life.