“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”
It’s Thursday, day whatever of COVID-19. Businesses are closed, streets empty, the Dow looks like a stumbling toddler, churches across the country are relocating en masse to digital sanctuaries; ditto when it comes to many small groups. Schools are going remote. Businesses are feeling the pinch of lost revenue and the uncertainty of how to respond to anxious employees. Many newly unemployed workers, early victims of this economic flash flood, are understandably worried.
Here in Lancaster, we had our first confirmed case of a patient who tested positive for COVID-19. On the national front, President Trump just signed a $1 trillion relief package, and across the world nations are shuttering their boarders, people are self-isolating, and most figure it’s only going to get worse.
So perhaps I should not have been surprised when a young friend — a casualty of the growing economic malaise — dejectedly said:
“It’s a cruel world out there!”
I disagree, and I told him so as kindly as I could. In fact, I told him what we both already know, that this pandemic is a consequence of this fallen world. Consequently we have world pandemics, world wars, and silly as it sounds, neighbors “at war” over fence lines, people who scalp bogus concert tickets, COVID-19, sickness, and ultimately death.
Hmmm . . . well, maybe my friend is not too far off after all!
But before I fall down that slippery slope I need to pause. I need to pick a better narrative.
Let me put it this way, if you are in the Carl Sagan camp that contends, “the cosmos is all that ever is or ever was or ever will be,” you have good reason to be concerned. This pandemic in on your shoulders. On the other hand, if you really do believe that “Jesus is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17), well, it changes things. No, my belief does not mean I sit on my hands trusting, “God’s got this” and then flippantly sing, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” to people who have lost jobs, or worse, lost loved ones.
I trust God and I take action.
I appreciate the level-headedness of Martin Luther in the face of the Black Death:
"I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God."
Luther was working from a better narrative, one that said, “God’s got this AND I am going to take action.”
The Luther response is akin to the Paul response who, rather than coddling his friends in Corinth, said,
“Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.”
Christians need a good dose of Luther and Paul right now. Because we know Jesus upholds the world by his powerful word, we don’t fret. Sure, with good reason, we are concerned — and we take precautions — but we refuse to live in fear. The sky is not falling. Things will get better. In the meantime:
Be on your guard — against living in the narrative of fear.
Stand firm in the faith — Jesus is in control.
Be courageous — by all means, self-isolate, but don’t live in isolation.
Be strong — determine to help where and when you can.
These are tough times, but God’s people have a way of reflecting his goodness to a world in need because they embrace his strong word and trust that He is our Good God.
____________
Notes:
“I shall ask God mercifully to . . .” from Martin Luther, from his letter "Whether one may flee from a Deadly Plague" to Rev. Dr. John Hess.