When crisis brings repentance

A Ghanaian adage says, “Trials force people to repent than counsels.” The proverb refers to how circumstances can force a change in perception. We find an example in the story of the prodigal son.

The boy left home with abundance and high hopes of making the best out of life in a far country. The story progresses to emphasize the temptation of unbridled materialism. The young man became a consumer of vanity until he lost everything.

Then came a crisis; a big famine he never envisioned. The Bible says he became a hired hand to keep pigs because he was in need. Not only in need of resources but food. He desired a taste of the menu for the pigs but no one gave him—a state of poverty that happens to most people in times of crisis.

At the peak of his desperation for survival, the Bible says, “he came to his senses.” It was out of this loneliness of great despair that the young man realized the vanity and deceitfulness of earthly pleasures.

A crisis comes for many reasons. Our crisis today is a coronavirus disease; even though there are other crises in life. Irrespective of the severity and the rampage that a crisis may cause, may we find our senses turned towards God, who is able to perfect our perception through Christ Jesus our Lord.