It’s one of the funniest lines—that never gets a laugh.
I refer to the safety demonstration from a flight last week:
- This aircraft is equipped with six emergency exits…
- Your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device…
- Smoking in the lavatories at any time is prohibited…
Then the flight attendant rattles off this disturbing scenario: “In the event of a sudden loss in cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop down automatically. Reach up and pull the mask to your face—and breathe normally.”
Think about it. What could possibly cause a “sudden loss” in cabin pressure? A bullet through the fuselage? A blown out window? A severed tail?
There simply is no scenario that would result in a sudden loss of cabin pressure that would allow any sane and sober person to “breathe normally.”
But if sanity and safety are to be restored in the middle of a crisis—in the air, on the ground—or in our spiritual lives—breathing normally is exactly what we must do. Consider:
- There seems to be no end to Coronavirus, despite the efforts of the world’s greatest scientists. But breathe normally: “The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul” (Psalms 121:7).
- The election finds us tense—and getting tenser. But breathe normally: “Behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales” (Isaiah 40:15).
- Our history is being rewritten—and none of it for good. But breathe normally: “For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
- Our culture has traded truth for narrative and facts that “don’t fit” are discarded. But breathe normally: “The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him” (Psalms 28:7).
- In many cities, our streets are in flames. But breathe normally: “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matt. 6:27).
- Our nation and our world reject and ridicule the very name of Jesus. But breathe normally: “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him” (Revelation 1:7).
Feeling a sudden loss of cabin pressure?
Breathe normally.
“The Lord reigns” (Psalms 93:1).
Amen and Amen!