Harold Senkbeil - Christ and Calamity: Grace and Gratitude in the Darkest Valley

Christ and
Calamity

Grace & Gratitude
in the Darkest Valley

Harold L. Senkbeil

Christ and Calamity: Grace and Gratitude in the Darkest Valley

Copyright 2020 Lexham Press

Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
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All rights reserved. You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at permissions@lexhampress.com.

Prayer in Time of Affliction adapted from Collects and Prayers for Use in the Church (Philadelphia: The United Lutheran Church in America, 1935), p. 115.

Artwork on pages i, xiii, 127, 128, 132, 138, and 147 is copyright 2019 Jonathan Mayer (www.ScapegoatStudio.com). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible ( The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The quotation on p. 30 is the esv alternate translation; the quotation on p. 40 is adapted from the esv .

Scripture quotations marked ( kjv ) are from the King James Version. Public domain.

Print ISBN 9781683594437
Digital ISBN 9781683594444
Library of Congress Control Number 2020939428

Lexham Editorial: Todd Hains, Abigail Stocker, Danielle Thevenaz
Cover Design: Brittany Schrock
Book Design and Typesetting: Abigail Stocker

Jesus,
I am yours; save me.

Psalm 119:94

In Thine arms I rest me;

Foes who would molest me

Cannot reach me here.

Though the earth be shaking,

Evry heart be quaking,

Jesus calms my fear.

Lightnings flash

And thunders crash;

Yet, though sin and hell assail me,

Jesus will not fail me.

Contents

Invitation to the Reader

C hrist and calamity go together. As Jesus said: In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). When calamity strikes, you need Jesus.

This little book is filled with Jesus. Here you will find him quoted frequently, as well as many other Bible passages, all to help you through the rough spots in life.

Tackle this book prayerfully.

Gods word and prayer are the means by which he sanctifies all thingseven tribulation and distress. And so I have included prayers of consolation that pair well with the themes in this book. You will find a prayer at the beginning of this book and then three sets of prayersfor any time, for morning, and for eveningand a hymn at the end.

You can use this material on your own or with others. The material at the end would work especially well in a group settingits arranged as responsive prayer, with one person speaking and the rest answering with the words in bold.

In the dark valleys of life you dont need platitudes. You need Jesus. Read this book with open ears and an open heart, and you will find consolation, solace, and peace in him.

In times of calamity we need the unvarnished truth. Tribulation will occur in this world. Jesus said so. But its also true that he has overcome the world.

And in his cross and resurrection theres hope for you.

Harold L. Senkbeil

Pentecost 2020

Prayer in Time of Affliction

Call upon me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.

Psalm 50:15

Lord , you know the deep places through which our lives must go: Help us, when we enter them, to lift our hearts to you; help us to be patient when we are afflicted, to be humble when we are in distress; and grant that the hope of your mercy may never fail us, and the consciousness of your lovingkindness may never be clouded or hidden from our eyes; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

i

Your Calamity

I write these opening lines on a stunningly gorgeous dayone of the first weve had here in Wisconsin during the lingering winterish springtime that has added insult to the injury of our months-long stay-at-home lockdown. Neighbors are out doing early yard work; tulips and daffodils wave in the sunshine; robins splash in my birdbath.

Yet something isnt quite right.

More people than usual are walking by with their dogs on a leash or their children in tow. They smile and wave at me, but they are wary of each other. Joggers head into the street to avoid closely approaching the other humans on the sidewalk. Many are masked in public to avoid spreading an unseen contagion.

Few cars drive by my house today. The price of crude oil went to negative digits not long agoa decline accelerated by quarantines the world over. The stock market took a dive months ago and is making its first furtive efforts at recovery. Yet analysts warn that it will be a rocky road. Globally, markets lost more than 30 percent of their value. People are out of work in record numbers. Businesses are languishing because of precautionary shutdowns; many will never reopen.

We are facing a worldwide pandemic of infectious disease caused by a new virus the likes of which we have never before seen during our lifetimes. Millions of people have contracted the disease. Some have grown gravely ill, and hundreds of thousands have already died. Governments all over the world have responded by restricting our travel and imposing quarantines to limit human contact and slow the contagion. Alarming rumors swirl. Media have fanned the flames of public fear to near-panic proportions. Seemingly overnight, the world as we knew it was turned upside down. Daily life morphed into a surreal simulation of what it once was.

Now in our seventies, my wife and I are told we are especially vulnerable to this public health threat. Our grown children enforce their own private quarantine. They distance themselves to avoid inadvertently infecting us if they are symptomless carriers of the virus. Its hard. Were not an especially expressive family, but air hugs are no substitute for a real embrace. Grandma and Grandpa are going through withdrawal; we long for the day we can regularly put our arms around our grandchildren again.

Businesses, governmental agencies, and churches have embraced new technology and implemented digital connections to avoid flesh-and-blood interaction. A gradual reopening, predicted in the months ahead, will most likely happen in fits and starts. No one really expects normal to return anytime soon, if ever. Its as if someone pushed pause on our daily routine, and were all marking time while infectious disease experts scramble to find effective means to treat the illness and epidemiologists look for ways to anticipate and stem the spread of infection that has disrupted our lives.

B ut this is not a book about the coronavirus or the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a book about you. Rather, its about you and Godand how you relate to him in times of calamity. To be exact, this is a book about Gods faithfulness in the face of uncertainty.

In the eleven, short chapters of this book, I will talk with you about how you can count on God to keep his promises, even when you cant see him or feel him. How you can trust him even when it seems like hes untrustworthy. Even when you face an uncertain future. Even while you are doubting or when you are afraid.

It doesnt have to be a coronavirus that youre facing. It could be another illness. It could be excruciating and unrelenting pain. It could be overwhelming sadness or debilitating depression. It could be the breakup of your marriage or your household. It could be the loss of someone you love. It could be the loss of your health, or the impending loss of your own life.