What do you do when your family lives in 5 different countries other than yours and you spend hours online every day, hitting refresh on the daily update website, watching the number of deaths and diagnosed cases rocket up? What do you do when borders close and airports shut down and you start to calculate who could get to whom faster, or even at all, if necessary? Then someone comes along and tells you, God is control, what do you do then?
I think we make God into a sissy, really. I never really thought about God's power other than when I sat in Yosemite once and marveled at how He had to be quite powerful in order to put rock formations that huge into place. Then my husband showed me a passage in Daniel 10 a few days ago and it got me thinking again.
"Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels,came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. Now I am here. . ." (Daniel 10:12-14, NLT)
Daniel was praying to God but the angel could not come to him for 21 days. Imagine that. An angel is a powerful being yet he was not able to win over the powers of darkness. Only when Jesus came to help and take over the battle, was Gabriel able to fly to Daniel to communicate with him.
When I picture the coronavirus, I don't picture God sitting back and pondering all these deaths. I see His angels fighting with Satan's angels to keep the disease from spreading. I see God tenderly bowing by the side of those who are struggling to breathe, placing a gentle hand of comfort on their forehead, with tears of sadness in His eyes. I know God cannot stop all sin and suffering simply because we live in a terrible terrible world. Yet He is more than a trite reply. He is a powerful God.
If it were up to Satan, I imagine all of those who believe in God would have died by now. Yet God exercises His power to protect us, not because of our stupidity (as this post was written out of sheer rage at the stupidity of so many people right now), but because of His wisdom. He knows people are incapable of protecting themselves or do not want to protect others to the cost of their bottom line. He knows people assume they are infallible and don't understand the subtle yet deadly affect of COVID-19.
Just like sin. We think we are immune to it, we can figuratively wash our hands and we will be safe. We do not see it lurking on surfaces, hanging in the air, or passing from person to person, invisible yet more powerful than a person's strength. Only because of Jesus' battle on the cross, a hand-to-hand battle with the powers of darkness, was He able to win and guarantee our eternal life.
Just as we exhort others not to waste this precious gift of life with God in the hereafter, let us not take lightly the gift of life God has given us in this life. I don't want to wake up tomorrow and see a message on Facebook or in my family chat that somebody has the coronavirus. I don't want to feel trapped in the small country I am in, all borders locked down, unable to get to those who need me.
Until we can breathe deeply again, I stay in my small apartment, only venturing out for internet and fresh groceries, fully clad in gloves and mask with hand sanitizer aplenty. I send emails questioning and querying to administrators who refuse to listen. I try, and fail, not to get angry at each new directive that fails to take seriously the government appeals to stay home. I pray God protects each of my dear family members scattered around the world. I pray my husband and I don't get sick, knowing full well the devil mocks those of God's people he can and tries his hardest to make their lives as miserable as possible.
And I remember that God is a God of power and He does fight for me. Often I don't see it, perhaps I don't understand it, but His power is real. God is a warrior (Exodus 15:3) and I need Him to fight for me now. Against the coronavirus. Against sin. And win.
And I remember that God is a God of power and He does fight for me. Often I don't see it, perhaps I don't understand it, but His power is real. God is a warrior (Exodus 15:3) and I need Him to fight for me now. Against the coronavirus. Against sin. And win.
"And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. . .Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet." (Revelation 19:20; 20:10)
