Occasionally, we get a glaring reminder that we could die at any
moment. We get hit with a ton of bricks--a friend gets diagnosed
with a terminal illness. An older family member gives way to the
earth. A child is in a freak car accident. And the realization is
sudden and swift as it is true: God alone holds the keys to life
and death. We do not have any control over the number of our
days. “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book
were written,every one of them, the days that were formed for
me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16
This Coronavirus could kill you, and it could kill me. But it doesn't
even have to be the virus that takes us out. We might follow
every single health precaution and eat organic food and exercise
and sleep 8 hours a day and wear our seatbelts and take care of
our bodies to the utmost degree. But we are mortal.
Theories abound as to why this virus sweeps the earth. God’s
punishment? His wrath? His answer for human depravity?
Maybe. Unequivocally, we grow increasingly evil, further and
further from the people He intended. But to nitpick and call
certain sins the reason that God might be punishing us is
incredibly arrogant.To even classify this as certain punishment is
also erroneous, I believe. We cannot know why God has allowed
this. We can know that His design was never for sickness, death,
suffering, or despair. He created perfection and sought us to live
in it with Him. He gave us free will to choose Him and believe
Him, and we turned away from Him and broke the whole world.
Now, sin and suffering and death run rampant.
But death. I wish that all the people of this Earth did not fear
death, that they could stare it right down in the eyes. Because
whether or not you believe that Christ has conquered death,
whether or not you believe that He is the son of God, whether
or not you believe that His sacrifice on the cross clears a path
for your entrance to Heaven and atones for your sin, it is true.
If you believe this, if you know it, if you live it and love it, then,
death is not such a terrifying thing. It is a wondrous thing, full
of hope and promise eternal. You long for it, in a way.
God…...bring those people to salvation who do not believe in you.
Let them believe. Let them seek you and find you, because I
know you offer yourself freely to them. I know your eyes roam the
earth for hearts that might believe. Your grace is a gift. Let them
understand, let them know. Let the fear, the suffering, and the
sickness drive more people to you. We have a heightened sense
of our mortality now, and we need you.
moment. We get hit with a ton of bricks--a friend gets diagnosed
with a terminal illness. An older family member gives way to the
earth. A child is in a freak car accident. And the realization is
sudden and swift as it is true: God alone holds the keys to life
and death. We do not have any control over the number of our
days. “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book
were written,every one of them, the days that were formed for
me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:16
This Coronavirus could kill you, and it could kill me. But it doesn't
even have to be the virus that takes us out. We might follow
every single health precaution and eat organic food and exercise
and sleep 8 hours a day and wear our seatbelts and take care of
our bodies to the utmost degree. But we are mortal.
Theories abound as to why this virus sweeps the earth. God’s
punishment? His wrath? His answer for human depravity?
Maybe. Unequivocally, we grow increasingly evil, further and
further from the people He intended. But to nitpick and call
certain sins the reason that God might be punishing us is
incredibly arrogant.To even classify this as certain punishment is
also erroneous, I believe. We cannot know why God has allowed
this. We can know that His design was never for sickness, death,
suffering, or despair. He created perfection and sought us to live
in it with Him. He gave us free will to choose Him and believe
Him, and we turned away from Him and broke the whole world.
Now, sin and suffering and death run rampant.
But death. I wish that all the people of this Earth did not fear
death, that they could stare it right down in the eyes. Because
whether or not you believe that Christ has conquered death,
whether or not you believe that He is the son of God, whether
or not you believe that His sacrifice on the cross clears a path
for your entrance to Heaven and atones for your sin, it is true.
If you believe this, if you know it, if you live it and love it, then,
death is not such a terrifying thing. It is a wondrous thing, full
of hope and promise eternal. You long for it, in a way.
God…...bring those people to salvation who do not believe in you.
Let them believe. Let them seek you and find you, because I
know you offer yourself freely to them. I know your eyes roam the
earth for hearts that might believe. Your grace is a gift. Let them
understand, let them know. Let the fear, the suffering, and the
sickness drive more people to you. We have a heightened sense
of our mortality now, and we need you.
