Lamentations 3:38,
“Does not the Most High send both calamity and good?
We are living during an extraordinary time in history with the entire world affected by this plague called COVID-19. It’s like we’re living in the Twilight Zone.
In the last week, like you and many others, I have prayed for our leaders and the President’s Coronavirus Task Force. We’ve prayed for:
- Peace when things feel chaotic (especially in the grocery stores)
- An antidote to the coronavirus
- Containment
- Relief to those who have the virus
- Protection of health care workers
- Businesses that are floundering and closing
- The unemployed
- Things to get back to normal!
But as I have prayed, there’s been a gnawing feeling that I’m only touching the surface, not the root issue.
Is God trying to get our attention?
Could He be using this moment in history to wake up Christians, (those who call themselves by His Name), to a real relationship and to stop going through the motions of religion? What if He is using a time such as this to:
- Resolve in our hearts who we believe God is and to stop drifting into our pluralistic culture
- Settle in our hearts whether the Bible’s words are idle or the very Words of God
- Determine if we’re going to live by the convictions of God’s Word or blend in with the culture
- Repent of our sin and prove by the way we live that we’ve repented
Over the next few days, I’m going to share verses that have come to me in my time with Jesus. I encourage you to pray through these passages with me. Make them personal. See what God says to your heart through them.
Psalm 65:5
“O God our Savior, You are the hope of everyone on earth.
Numbers 16:22: “You are the Lord who gives breath to all creatures.”
Psalm 89:6, 11: “For who in all of heaven can compare with the Lord?
Where is there anyone as mighty as You?
The heavens are Yours and the earth is Yours;
everything in the world is Yours – You created it all.”
Psalm 96:4-5: “For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.”
Habakkuk 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord…
[Lord, I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet who’s not feeling this contagion.]
Psalm 66:10 -11: “You are testing us, O God;
You have captured us in Your net [we are forced to stay in our homes]
and laid the burden of slavery [the coronavirus] on our backs.”
Lamentations 3:25-26, 28-29:
“The Lord is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him.
So it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands.
Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last.
Lamentations 3:38-42: “Does not the Most High send both calamity and good?
Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?
Instead, let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD.
Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, ‘We have sinned and rebelled’. ”
(Bold and italicized are mine.)
Use the gift of time that many of us have right now to be still before the Lord. Take time to talk to Him. Pull out your Bible. Read these verses and ask the Lord to examine your heart, searching your deepest thoughts and motives. What does He bring to mind?
More tomorrow.