SETTING OUR MINDS ON THINGS ABOVE

Coronavirus Part 1 – What is God up to?

The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all.
Ps. 103:19

Starting today, I will be devoting this section of my Saturday post to present spiritual food for thought as I look deeper into the Coronavirus Pandemic. Aside from Holocaust and WW II survivors, no one alive today has experienced a world-wide shakeup like this. This doesn’t mean that people in individual nations and regions haven’t endured even worse tragedy and suffering. People in the Sudan, Northern Nigeria, North Korea, Rwanda, Uganda, China, and a host of other nations have endured years of warfare, famine, disease, terrorism and/or oppression that is unimaginable to most westerners. What we are experiencing, however, is worldwide, with the U.S. reporting more cases than any other nation.

While most people just want things to go back to the way things were, I think that is the last thing God wants. In fact, I believe the way things were may be the very reason why things are the way they are. What the world (and the Church) has accepted as normal is so far from God’s desire for us that He may have to initiate a major reset. However, God’s Word clearly says that before a reset is possible, there must be repentance, serious repentance. Israel’s history is replete with examples of what God had to inflict on His people every time their sins became intolerable.

Israel was God’s special nation to whom He had uniquely revealed Himself. He made promises to her that He made to no other nation. But despite His unconditional love for His chosen people, His righteousness demanded that her sins be punished. When her idolatry and detestable practices pushed their God to the limit, He sent the Babylonian army to destroy Jerusalem, the Temple, and take the people into captivity in Babylon for 70 years.

For a more applicable example for us, we have the account of the census and the plague as told in 2 Samuel 24. Please take some time to read this short chapter and let its message sink in. Because of David’s decision to conduct a census despite all the opposition from his advisors, a plague resulted. David’s real sin was trusting in numbers rather than in God. After all that God had done for David, this was a grievous sin. When he realized what he had done, he built an altar and repented with acceptable offerings according to the Law.

While we (Gentiles) are not under the Law (and never have been), God is looking for those who are His to come to our altar of repentance with our acceptable sacrifice (Romans 12:1). He is desiring living sacrifices, putting to death everything we inherited from Adam so we can live in “new life,” the resurrected life of Jesus Himself. Perhaps the powerless condition of the Church stems from the fact that the fire of God will never fall on an empty altar. Perhaps God is using the Coronavirus to bring us to our altar of repentance.

Our nation has been blessed by God in countless ways, but God has made no promises to us as a nation. He is under no obligation to protect us, especially from ourselves. Our sins have piled up to heaven, and I believe we have been living are on borrowed time. The epicenter of the coronavirus is New York City. Is it merely a coincidence that NYC is also the abortion capital of the world? Within the Big Apple’s African-American community, there are more abortions per year than births! Look at the other virus hot spots and you will also find unimaginable degradation. Is this just a coincidence?

Sadly, the Church is equally guilty. What we have done with what we’ve been given is worthy of God’s judgment. We have been given our marching orders to carry on Christ’s work here on earth, but we have haven’t done much better than the Israelites. Just because God hasn’t brought judgment yet doesn’t mean He never will. Consider how fast and how drastically things have changed. God is speaking, but is anyone listening? It was great to see our President taking time to pray with all those pastors (last article above), but how were they praying? If their prayers didn’t focus on repentance, they weren’t worth much.

Every Saturday I will be focusing on what I believe God wants to accomplish through this pandemic and what it means for born-again believers in Jesus. Until then, ask God to reveal His purpose to you so you can discern what’s really going on behind the scenes. I’d love to hear how God has spoken to you.

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