God And The Pandemic.

|Spiry Tee

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He  is good! For His mercy endures forever."
Psalms 107:1 NKJV

Since Covid-19 was designated a global health pandemic, many things have come to light. It is true that hard times reveal what is in the heart of man. The children of Israel were excited when they got out of Egypt but when the time of trial in the wilderness came, what was in them quickly came to the fore.  In all the hullabaloo, pandemonium and panic by virtue of the disruptions as governments are trying their best to contain the virus, there are muted lessons wise students of life can glean from. The pandemic will not last but what we learn during this time will outlive the moment.

The obvious everyday free lecture is that human beings are afraid of death. The lockdowns have taken away people's busyness and now most people have time to reflect on their mortality. Many are asking themselves, "If all this comes to an end, what will be my standing in eternity?"  You might have a six figure net worth in the bank here on earth but what is your eternal net worth when one day everything comes to a screeching halt. The pursuit of earthly possessions frequently robs many people of the soberness to "lay hold on eternal life". While it is profitable to listen to our health experts' reasonable advice, we must never forget to pay our utmost attention to the author of life Himself. 

The pandemic has shown us that human life is fickle, can vanish like a vapor and carrries the characteristics of grass for it withers and the glory thereof falls away. But there is a higher and better life which was brought to earth by Jesus. "This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son. The person who has the Son has this life. The person who doesn’t have the Son of God doesn’t have this life." (1 John 5:11‭-‬12 GW). There is a special life God wants to give all of mankind through Jesus Christ. That life is available now for it has been paid for by Jesus Christ. When you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, that life of God supplants the human life in you. You become a partaker of the divine nature.  You matriculate from the domain of mankind to be an associate of the Godkind.

This life of God is called zoe in Greek which means life as God has it. The Godlife you receive in Christ is superior to this world. It can make a prince from a beggar.  This life can heal the broken-hearted. It is superior to all sicknesses and diseases.  It is incorruptible, "You have been born again, not from a seed that can be destroyed, but through God’s everlasting word that can’t be destroyed." (1 Peter 1:23 GW). This is a life you can have right now by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Secondly, what became clear to me when the pandemic hit was the fact that God remains largely unknown in the world.  I have heard the most bizarre pronouncements about the involvement of God in bringing about the virus on earth's shores. Like Paul on Mars' Hill I saw an inscription on the world's alter of flesh written "To the unknown God".  God has been misrepresented and mischaracterized so badly that many people including Christians don't know anymore who God is. It is a complete misrepresentation to claim that every bad thing that happens is done by God just because we have no scientific explanation for it. For the record I strongly disagree that God is the one who brought the virus on our shores. Why do I say that? It is simple because the character of God is revealed to us in Christ Jesus.  He is the image of the invisible God. Jesus is the express image of God's person and is the effulgence of His glory. So if you want to know God FULLY, you must look at Christ.

Jesus didn't kill anyone when He walked among us. He said rather, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10). Jesus came to give us life. If God was the author of sicknesses and diseases, Jesus would not have to go and heal people, because He would be working at cross purposes with God. The reason He healed people is because God wants people well. He healed sinners and saints alike. He loves all people and is not counting men's sins against them. I shudder when I hear people say these horrible happenings are acts of God. We should refrain from loosely attributing things we can't explain to have been done by God. It is satan who steals, kills and destroy. People who blame God for everything bad do not know Him. God is good and every good and perfect gift comes from him. "So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures." (James 1:16‭-‬18 MSG).

Many will insist that God should be blamed for all terrorist activities, wars, disasters and epidemics because if He is all-powerful as He claims why can't He stop it. It's true that God is an all-powerful God but He is also a legal God and understands procedure. For instance, there are things the president of the United States of America can not do with all the power vested in his office unless United States Congress approves. God is the same. Righteousness and JUSTICE are the foundations of His throne. This earth we live in is under man's jurisdiction and God will act when He is invited by man. The reason bad things are happening is because all creation is travailing in pain since the fall of Adam and Eve. Everything is out of course and bad things will continue to happen on earth until the restitution of all things on Christ's second advent. Mankind messed up and must bear the consequences. But there is hope and refuge in Christ. Through one man's disobedience death entered in the world, but the good news is that through Christ's obedience, life has come back to earth. Don't despair when you see pictures of gloom and doom on the news. Christ is here in the storm.  Call to Him and He will hide you in His pavilion until the wrath of the pandemic is past. God bless you.

SPEAK OUT.
Christ is my refuge till the wrath of the pandemic is past.

*All scripture quotations are taken from the New King James version of the Bible unless otherwise indicated.

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