I grew up during the last vestiges of the Cold War. Once upon a time, we all lived with the dread of Mutual Assured Destruction:Russia and America threatening to fire nuclear missiles at each other. As a public schooled kid we practiced ‘duck-and-cover’ drills where, when the alarm sounded, we all left our seats and sat under our desks; evidence that such apprehension had shaped the culture. This was what was talked about, written about, sung about. Life, as we knew it back then, hung in the balance—and the future—the future only seemed to extend until the fateful day when someone pushed the big, red button.
There are similarities to the Coronavirus Pandemic and life back then; lots of information and tons of misinformation. Experts disagreeing with experts, friends with differing opinions, voices upon voices. Back then, you were trying to decide whether you should dig a bomb shelter. Today, it’s all about wearing a face mask or not. Duck and Cover all over again. The world, once more, is one big wall of sound with no clear voice of instruction and comfort.
That is why it is imperative that we hear the words from another realm; outside of space and time. Words that tell us how to survive in the midst of chaos by patterning our life on earth as it is in heaven.
To do this we need to be reading the scriptures and listening to our pastors as well as other legitimate Christian leaders—but that will not be enough. It never has been enough and it never will be enough.
You need to take the time to talk with God. That is what reading the Bible and listening to pastoral instruction and teaching is supposed to lead to…you and God, talking.
One of the significant times that I have found to do this is on my daily two-mile walk. I tell God how glad I am that He is my Father. He hears all my frustrations and fears. Sometimes when no words seem adequate, I sing, then more conversation ensues as scriptures come to mind and I become grateful or repentant or amazed and say so to Him who is always near. During this time I feel like that I am the center of the universe and all of God’s attention is on me. That is not because I am special, rather it is because fathers make their children feel that way and the Creator of the universe is my Dad.
I hear words like these while I walk:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Just imagine how these words, made those first believers feel special, singled out by grace. Imagine how this changed the way that they talked to God during the day…
Covid-19? The most assuring truth is not that ‘God’s got this’, but the reality that, God’s got me.
