This past week has been unprecedentedly insane across the world with the rise of coronavirus. It’s not the first time we’ve had an epidemic or health crises. We’ve seen H1N1, SARS, MERS, Ebola, and if you go back to before I was born the Spanish Flu pandemic, which killed 50 million people worldwide. We live in a world that can get pretty scary. And yet when “pandemic” brings on “panic,” we have perhaps a bigger problem.
I’ve been to several stores this week in my state of Michigan. On the weekend, we had yet to have any cases of this virus in our state. We now have twelve as of last count – none in my county. Even before we had a single case here, people feared. If you look for it in stores, you cannot find hand sanitizer (that everyone tells you to use), or rubbing alcohol, or face masks of any kind, and now stores are running out of toilet paper, bottled water, dry goods. Really? Are we preparing for war?
I don’t mean to minimize the threat that could be very real…or may not be as bad as the media suggests. I listened to the news last night – they started out by telling us that they don’t want to create panic. But as a writer, I listened to the way each reporter worded their stories. They sure didn’t sound like they WEREN’T trying to create a panic. From the inflection in their voices to the carefully chosen words they used, they most definitely were trying to make this pandemic sound like a complete crisis. Perhaps they are right. But then don’t tell us that you aren’t trying to spread panic and then do exactly that.
And the result? Grocery stores are emailing us to reassure us, and yet their aisles are missing essential items and people are scrambling to find enough supplies to last—how long? Two weeks? A month? Friends fear not being able to find food, and we’ve never seen such a thing in our lifetime. We didn’t live through the Great Depression or WWII when things were scarce and fear was high then too. This isn’t the first time people have panicked. Remember Y2K?
I understand the concern. I’m in that age category where if I had underlying health conditions, they say I could get pretty sick. So I’ll stay home from big events. I’ll wash my hands a zillion times a day. I’m not foolish. We do need to be cautious. But we don’t need to fear. Panic stems from fear.
Over and over again in Scripture, God tells us to “fear not”. Why? “Because I am with you.” Do we realize that fact? God with us. Emmanuel. Jesus. We’re not to fear the future, the unknown, or any other crisis known to human beings because if we know Jesus, He is our refuge and strength. A very present help in time of trouble.
Of course, there comes a point when we have to trust Him if we aren’t going to let panic and worry overtake us. I have two little granddaughters that I could worry about, but I’d really rather pray for them because there is absolutely nothing I can do to keep them healthy or safe. Truth is, I can’t protect anyone I love from illness, danger, war, hurt, pain, or even death. I don’t have that kind of power. Sometimes I wish I did. But I’ve learned that only One has the power to keep us safe. Only One has the power over anything and everything that goes on around us.
I was talking to a friend the other day and we were discussing a controversial subject on which we both happen to agree. But in the process of the discussion, I realized that if I fear the future because of this current crisis, where is my trust? If I’m going to place my trust in God alone, I have to start sometime. If not now, when?
We may find that this virus disappears quickly or it may last awhile. No one knows. And because of the unknown, fear escalates and leads us to do foolish things. I have heard more than once from people who know that visitors in hospitals are stealing face masks right off the supply carts—those masks are needed by our health care workers. Do we really want to endanger their lives when they are on the front lines of helping the sick by greedily taking something that isn’t ours to take?
I get the fear, but I can’t accept the twisted logic that would lead us to fight or steal. I understand we want certainty. Why else would the stock market keep falling if not for the fear of uncertainty? But we can’t know for sure. We are not in control of this or of anything else, and lack of control is scary.
But God…whether we believe it or not is absolutely in control. He is not unaware of this new crisis. You may ask, why then does He allow it? That would lead to an entirely different subject of why doesn’t God punish or stop evil in the world? If He is all powerful, then why not? And all I can say to that is, He will. One day He will judge all that the god of this world does or tries to do to destroy us. But that day is not yet. Why He waits? Because His timing is perfect and only He knows what that is.
And I have to trust Him even in this. If I believe in a good sovereign God, and I do, and if He is all that He says He is, and He has never failed me yet, then I know that I can trust Him even now. The men and women of Scripture learned to trust the Lord through both good times and bad. Sometimes it is in those bad times that we can more clearly see our need of Him. We are not in control. We fear because we can’t stop this. We fear because we don’t know where it is coming from. Even when we figure out how to stop this one, there will be another crisis someday and we will panic all over again.
Unless we learn to make the Lord our refuge. Run to Him and rest in the Rock that is Higher than I. Shelter in Him. He knows the number of hairs on our heads and He knows the number of our days on earth. No matter what happens, I know my God is with me.
I hope you know Him too.
~Selah
#pandemic #dontfear #dontpanic #fearnot #trustinthelord #coronavirus
