The global spread of coronavirus has frightened many of us.
Some people rush to the shops to buy non-perishable products and face masks that don’t help at all; some people buy all the hand sanitist they can find; others are totally indifferent to the virus.
How should we respond to that?
The current fact is that COVID-19, which means coronavirus disease since 2019, has already led to the loss of more than three thousand lives, we must mourn these losses and pray for those most affected, my family prays, especially for China and the country. world in general, every morning.
However, the mortality rate is slightly higher than 3%, or the vast majority of those who contract coronavirus survive and, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins Whiting School, 51,000 of the infected 94,000 have already recovered. in some cases, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says: “We can roll back this virus. “
But what if we can’t stop the virus, what if it spreads to the United States, how do some epidemiologists predict?
Psalm 112 is a good guide on how we should react
“[The righteous] shall never be moved; will be kept in eternal memory. Don’t be afraid of bad news; your heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. Your heart, well established, aren’t you afraid?
We all get bad news. If it is not the virus it will be something else, we live in a fallen world, where suffering and death are inevitable, living as if it were not true makes no sense, yet the wise and the righteous need not fear bad news.
It is one thing to pay attention to bad news, to mourn tragic events; another is to live with fear and anxiety for what may happen. Psalm 112 shows us that it is possible to look at the bad news and say, “You will not dominate my heart. “This means that the coronavirus epidemic is an opportunity to choose faith over fear.
Our emotions can influence, but the right person doesn’t lose sight of it, but how?
A righteous person’s trust is not in good news, in pleasant circumstances, or in avoiding suffering and death. Instead, your trust is in the Lord.
Does suffering, or the prospect of suffering, intend to reveal where we really place our trust: good health, economic security, happy marriage, etc. But when these things are threatened, cracks begin to appear on our unstable base.
However, the more we study God’s character, the more deeply we can be convinced that he is good and that he works well with evil. It’s unwavering.
In fact, Romans 8. 28 tells us that God works so that “all things may contribute to the good of those who love Him”. This means that every pain or sadness imaginable will be bent and shaped by the hands of Providence to achieve a good that could never be achieved otherwise.
Who can offer such a strong promise? Only the Lord our God. And so our hearts can be firm.
What would a stable heart look like, without fear of bad news, in the midst of the coronavirus? Think of our Chinese brothers and sisters. Denominational giving has apparently skyrocketed in China over the past decade, with Protestants giving $ 10 million to alleviate suffering.
Indeed, Christians in China are making such generous donations, to help people infected with coronavirus, that the government has rejected their funds, so that churches do not give the impression that the government is incompetent. Chinese Christians are reportedly not hiding in their homes, but caring for the sick and distributing care.
Now it is to love oneseed cordially with fraternal love, preferring in honor of one another (Rom. 12. 10).
Therefore, even if we have to navigate the feelings of fear, we do not need to depend on the circumstances or prognosis. Is our trust properly placed in the Lord because God is good all the time?as my poor hungry Ugandan friends taught me.
? All the time?.