Pastor's Corner: In other words ...

Have you ever been watching a news report on television and heard the anchor say, “In other news…”? The report might sound something like this, “Today the police arrested a suspect in the grocery store robbery. In other news, city leaders were at a ribbon cutting for a new wing of the local hospital.”

The phrase “in other news” connects the two stories. We would probably never put the two stories together until the anchor links them together with, “In other news.”

Can I encourage you a little today? All of the problems and situations we have endured; there is good to come out of it.

Let me explain. We would never know that we need a deliverer if we never needed deliverance. We would never know we needed a healer if we never needed healing. We would never know we needed a savior if we never needed saving.

I believe it is safe to say that when we rang 2020 in back in January nobody would have ever guessed in their wildest imagination what our city, state, country and world would be going through just a few months later.

Who could have ever predicted the shutdown of businesses all over the country? Did anybody think that you couldn’t get your haircut, nails done or even sit down to a meal in a restaurant?

But it has happened. Like it or not, that is the world we find ourselves in today.

However, God has not been surprised by any of this. He is still on the throne. COVID 19 did not catch God off-guard.

If God is not surprised by it, if He knew it was coming, why did he allow it?

The reason is, “In other news….”

There are so many of us who have been so distracted we have forgotten God.

If you read through the Old Testament, whenever Israel walked away from God, He allowed hardships in their lives to bring them back to Him.

Remember, “In other news….”

There are people who have grown cold in their relationship with God and the suddenly cried out to Him.

In other news, there were people who God sent deliverance to.

There are those who have become deathly sick.

In other news God sent healing.

People have turned to God and asked for His help.

In other news God sent a Savior to save.

Just like the news anchor connected two stories that we may have never connected ourselves, God does the same thing.

When you are up against it; when you are going crazy because you are off work and your kids are home all day; when there is way more month than there is money; when you just can’t stand it anymore; remember, “In other news…”

Steve Dobbs is pastor of Community Circle Church in Shafter.