Oak Hill Church of Christ 4-16-23 Message: "Don't Jump Ship"

Oak Hill Church of Christ preaching minister, Randy Sterling, delivers a message on the importance of remaining steadfast in our connection to God and His will during troubling times.

Often, the first reaction to trouble is the ill-fated cry of "do something!" The problem is: the something is often even worse than the problem itself. The something has a knock-on effect of disaster which creates an even worse situation than the one that caused people to cry out "do something!"

The immediate reaction to suffering, tragedy, setback, and disaster is to act immediately. The impulse suggests that the reason the tragedy happened was because the something wasn't done sooner, or harder, or more often. However, this reaction is one of emotion, and not one of reason and wisdom.

God counsels wisdom and reason for each of His children, that they would not be given to impulse and emotion but, rather, to consider and wait before acting. It may be that the patient waiting on God prevents disaster altogether, or at least, provides for a better outcome.

In Acts, disaster struck a boat carrying the Apostle Paul because the boat's crew would not wait in harbor at God's warning (Acts 27:9-12.) If troubling times have come for you, whether it was because God's warning was not heeded, or perhaps because of the fault of others, consider the value of remaining steadfast and trusting God to deliver, rather than acting on impulse and emotion.