There are two different ways to make a mountain out of a molehill. First, we can take a problem and turn it into something so big and so complicated that we feel hopeless. Secondly, we can take something we see as a positive thing in our lives and exaggerate it so much or cherish it so much it begins to consume us. The result is that the other things God feels are important in our lives fade in value! No matter what the origin of these habits in handling situations and circumstances are, there is another way - that God’s way!

When a situation or circumstance comes up and that old habit of making a mountain out of molehill begins to rear its ugly head, what can we do? Before we start to think of all the things that could go wrong, or just when we start to think of the first things that could go wrong, do not panic! Try the following:

Panic Check List

• Step back from the situation!
• Get with God and ask him for his perspective!
• Get your direction!
• If you encounter a problem, STOP!
• Walk away from it and put it down!
• Go back to God again!
• Once again ask God for his perspective and direction!

God wants to do things in our lives simply and permanently. When we get with God about a situation or circumstance, and if  we follow the direction, He gives us in how to handle that specific situation, He has control. You see God only has as much control of our lives as we give him! So, if we have given God total control, unless we give room for Satan, the outcome should be permanent. But! We must continue to walk in God’s direction. Remember, we can be delivered from something, but if we choose to keep doing whatever we have been delivered from, the deliverance will not be permanent.

Let us look at some scriptures that backs up what is being said:

Example One

It was almost time for the festival of Pesach in Y’hudah, so Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. 14In the Temple grounds he found those who were selling cattle, sheep and pigeons, and others who were sitting at tables exchanging money. He made a whip from cords and drove them all out of the Temple grounds, the sheep, and cattle as well. He knocked over the money-changers’ tables, scattering their coins; 16and to the pigeon-sellers he said, “Get thee things out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?” (His talmidim later recalled that the Tanakh says, “Zeal for your house will devour me.”) John 2:13-17 (CJB)

The example that Jesus set here was exactly what we are talking about. When He walked into the temple, He walked into a situation that could have been totally overwhelming to Him. This was the Temple of Jesus’ Father! Jesus’ emotions were right there in His face, so to speak! Verse 15 tells us something that the other Gospels do not mention. It says He made a whip out of cords. Now, this tells us Jesus had to walk away from what He saw! This did not mean Jesus was running away from the problem, nor was He was avoiding the situation. In any given situation, if we feel that we need to walk away, this can be a good thing, because it allows us to look at the situation from a fresh perspective. This will help us keep our emotions, past experiences, and human opinions out it. Therefore, we are not escaping from the problems when we walk away from the situations, because we are going to come back and handle them – with God’s specific direction!

Because this was an intensely emotional situation for Jesus, He stepped back and walked away. He needed time with His Father. He needed time to get God’s perspective and He needed specific direction. The Bible says He made a whip. To do this, it took time. It took more time than we think because to make a whip in Jesus’ time, He would have had to gather the raw materials. Jesus did not have the availability to go to the Ace Hardware or Home Depot! After finding the materials He needed, He had to sit down and weave the whip by hand! While finding the material and making the whip, Jesus had plenty of time to talk to his Father. In so doing, He received his direction and He even received the tone of how He should handle what He was about to say and do! What an example for us!

“For I have not spoken on my own initiative, but the Father who sent me has given me a command, namely, what to say and how to say it. 50And I know that his command is eternal life. So what I say is simply what the Father has told me to say.” John 12:49-50 (CJB)

Jesus set a clear example for us to follow because in all the Gospels He told us repeatedly, "I do nothing or say nothing on my own!" The scripture above puts things very much into perspective! There is nothing that we should be doing or saying without God's specific direction! If that is the example that Jesus set for us to live by, then why would we think that we should do anything less than that?

Example Two

“Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” John 8:1-11 (KJV)

Jesus had a potentially explosive situation here! The people involved were not only planning on stoning a woman to death, but they had set a trap for Jesus at the same time! The situation was volatile, and it had to be handled perfectly. Once again, Jesus showed us how to handle and deal with a situation and a circumstance as a human being. This time He did not walk away from the situation. Instead He stepped back and pulled himself out of the situation temporarily, He bent down and started scribbling in the sand. In everything Jesus did, He wanted God to have the victory!

"The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. I John 3:8b (NIV)

So, because Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil, Jesus’ goal in everything He said and did was for God to have the victory! God wants the victory over Satan in everything we do also! That should be our goal, too! We should never, ever think any other way. When Jesus leaned down and started drawing in the sand, He literally took Himself out of the situation and then came back to it. He was doing something to get His mind out of the situation; and He was doing something to take his mind off the circumstance He was in!

This was a very judgmental crowd and they were looking for trouble! They wanted Him to tell them that they were right in wanting to stone the woman, because that was the law! I am sure they were stunned and caught off guard by what he did.

The act, itself that Jesus performed was to take His mind off the situation separating Himself from what He saw – the crowd must have been stunned! Jesus squatted down and He begins to doodle! Can't you just see the people trying to figure out what He was doodling? This procedure bought Him the time to get clear direction from God on how to handle this explosive situation. Remember, if Jesus did not handle this appropriately, they could have turned on Him and tried to stone him to death. Satan already was plotting to kill Him, but it was not His time! Jesus was NOT writing the sins of the accusers in the sand. The situation was too explosive for that! They would have turned on Him in a second. What He did for those few minutes, confused them, and bought Him the time He needed. Once again, what an example!

(sw-h)

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