Tony Evans: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

July 7, 2008 - Have you ever felt stuck – as if you had nowhere to go and the life was being squeezed out of you? Have you ever had to choose between two equally unsatisfactory options? You are not alone.

by Janet Chismar

“It happens often,” says pastor and author Tony Evans. “God will box you in and you have no human solution out of the problem. The human contacts you have, the human resources you have, the human clout that you have can’t get you out of it.”

Life’s difficult decisions and Catch-22 situations can leave us feeling forgotten or overlooked by God, Evans says. "Problems can show up in our health, finances, relationships — in any area.”

Yet, when God allows such moments, He is often working out His very special plans for our lives. According to Evans, God allows these Catch 22’s for one overarching purpose – that is for us to experience Him at a deeper, higher, greater level.

"We can get into a routine way of experiencing him and He wants to escalate and elevate that," says Evans, "therefore He puts us in situations only He can resolve."

To see some examples, just look at the Bible. “There are particular people in the Bible who illustrate this point,” says Evans, “from Moses and the children of Israel getting boxed in with the Red Sea on one hand and Pharaoh’s army on the other – to Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son – to God letting Lazarus die when He promised he wouldn’t die. All of these are contradictions.”

When you face such a contradiction, says Evans, God usually calls you to do something and often, it doesn’t make sense. “It doesn’t fit the problem. It may seem totally opposite to the problem, yet it is God calling you to an act of faith, which releases Him to show you His miraculous power.”

As you read your Bible, zero in when you see people face crises and the various ways God intervenes. It will show you that while God’s promises are constant, His methods vary.

“You will be able to see that God is not limited to any one way to address any one situation and it will expand your view of God,” Evans adds.

About Tony Evans
Tony Evans is senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas. He is founder and president of The Urban Alternative, a popular author, and chaplain to the Dallas Mavericks. Evans recently published Theology You Can Count On, which deals with all the major doctrines of the faith in a very practical way. (Moody Press)

His national ministry, The Urban Alternative, trains about 300 churches a year to adopt schools in their communities. "If every church adopts a school, then we will reach an entire generation without having to create anything new," says Evans. For more information, visit TonyEvans.org

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