Crowned with Favor during Corona

The losses surrounding the Corona Virus are incalculable: hundreds of thousands dead, tragic stories of victims dying and being buried with no family present, countless weddings cancelled, bans on gatherings, a halt to travel, and hundreds of millions unemployed. The devastation will never be fully known, and there is, unfortunately, a distinct possibility that the worst is yet to come should the economic and societal aftershocks worsen.

Can these traumatizing events be anything but a curse for all those affected? I have yet to meet even one person who is enjoying the Corona Virus, but it is already clear to me that what the enemy meant for evil, God intends to use for good (Genesis 50:20). The suffering he allows has a way of softening the heart to receive reproof and instruction, giving us a chance to reprioritize our lives. A response of faith leads to spiritual growth that otherwise would not have occurred. Our “spiritual muscles” may ache with pain, but the resulting godliness is great gain (1 Timothy 4:8).

They say you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, a lesson Corona has taught us well. We will value many blessings more than ever before should we regain them in the future, and we are learning now to appreciate blessings that we still have which could disappear someday. Food and shelter may be obvious, but those of us who grew up in free societies never knew how valuable unrestricted movement really is. Another blessing is the vibrant human bond with family, close friends, fellow believers, and even strangers in the street. I wonder if I ever would have realized without “social distancing” just how precious this interaction is to me.

There is much talk about this being a “dry run” for a reimagined world. Sadly, that may be true. However, I believe that God has not been outmaneuvered on this front. With seriousness and urgency, he is using this crisis to make ready the hearts of his own for any troubles ahead. Experiencing this worldwide emergency allows us to get at least a little idea of what it is like to be prisoners without freedom, and also prepares us for being refugees subject to uncertainty and lack.

The people of Israel faced the threat of a curse by Balak and Balaam just before their entry into the Land, but Balaam was compelled to admit the true state of the nation: “The Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them” (Numbers 23:21). A similar spiritual battle is raging in our time as we approach the end, but God gave us the quarantine to prepare. This crisis not only will strengthen our longing for God’s presence in heaven, but it will also remind us that our relationship with Jesus Christ is the one thing that can never be taken from us even in our hardest of days on this earth. We are in a triumphal procession through the trials, and name of our king is on our lips.

Just like the psalmist, we face countless enemies and evildoers – but we can confidently declare with him: “For you, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor you will surround him as with a shield” (Psalm 5:12). It is fascinating to discover that the Hebrew word translated here as “surround” resembles a word with the meaning of “crown” at a later stage of the language. The implications are inspiring. We not only march in the triumphal procession of the king; we also are “crowned” by him with favor during trials. God is using the Corona Virus to fit us for the crown of life and righteousness (James 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:8) – a crown that will be revealed in eternity.

Hope in the Age of the "New Normal"

If one phrase could define the COVID-19 era, the “new normal” would likely be a leading candidate. This phrase has a suffocating ring of finality to it, as though it will be impossible to go back fully to the “old normal” ever. That old paradigm encompassed things we took for granted – such as unrestricted human physical contact including handshaking and hugging, unlimited mass gatherings for prayer or for pleasure, and largely unhindered movement whether merely outside of the house or between countries and continents.

For just a few minutes, let us set aside the ongoing debates on what the response to the Corona Virus should have been from the beginning and what it should be going forward. For the sake of the discussion, let us even assume that steps such as “social distancing” and the usage of facemasks are the correct response to a public health crisis (at least at some point on the timeline). While I realize that many question those policies on philosophical and scientific grounds, my intent here is neither to attack such measures nor to silence the concerns of those opposed to them – but rather to reflect on the situation from an eternal perspective.

What strikes me more than anything else about the “new normal” is the underlying message that this is the unavoidable fate awaiting human beings here on earth. There is no hope for a brighter future in this new world, with the only viable option seeming to be complete surrender to the certainty of increasingly restrictive controls as envisioned by the experts as the only way to battle the possibility of unending and unpredictable outbreaks of disease. Hope in the human heart suffers “death by suffocation” when it is overwhelmed by a worldview that depends on human manipulation for survival – instead of submission to the source of life himself.

To quote Dostoevsky, to live without hope is to cease to live. Make no mistake, friends; the enemy himself is the true author of the underlying philosophy of the “new normal” – for he realizes that his time is short. He knows that the extinguishing of hope is one of the most powerful weapons in his arsenal, and he will stop at nothing to “spiritually isolate” the believer from the living hope that has already been given to him or her (1 Peter 1:3). This spiritual principle applies to the overall situation, whether or not wearing a face mask is a reasonable response to this specific virus.

Even as the shadows deepen around the world, the hope of the true believer cannot be extinguished. Even if the circumstances of this life worsen, we cling to the promise that “surely there is a hereafter, and [our] hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 23:18). Even though the enemy taunts us with the utter impossibility of it all, we can “rest [our] hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to [us] at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). And even if we never fully recover those human blessings of physical connection and coming together in this present age, we know that “we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17).

Someday the “new normal” will become nothing but distant memory – conquered by the God who not only gives the human heart hope, but is our hope (Psalm 71:5). Let us fix our eyes on him unswervingly in whatever time we have left on this earth.

Fear and Punishment ~ Two Peas in a Pod

The second-to-the-last chapter of the Bible has a verse that makes the heart skip a beat: “But the cowardly (or fearful)… shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone…” (Rev. 21:8).

The cowardly? Isn’t that a little harsh? Isn’t fear a normal reaction, and even healthy sometimes? What if I cannot help but be fearful – especially if the things that I fear are not just my imagination? Can’t God just give me a medical exemption out of compassion for those diagnosed with weak hearts? These are valid questions, and we will come back to them at the end. Just to be clear, the subject here is not natural human caution in the face of real danger, nor a reverential awe towards God. Instead, we are talking about a way of life characterized by paralyzing and panic-inducing fear.

The Coronavirus, the response to it and the repercussions from it have instilled a deep fear in humanity. Many are fearful of the intentions of other humans, based on the track record of human history and the actions of leaders prophesied in the Bible. Others find the very nature of God to be frightening, either because he allows such evil individuals to be victorious (if only for a time), or because of the judgements that he himself pours out (especially at the end of time). It is no wonder that many people can identify with the wicked servant who received the single talent: “For I feared you, because you are an austere man” (Luke 19:21).

In this spiritual war, fear keeps us as soldiers from being effective in battle. For this reason, Moses gave command to discharge all of the fearful and fainthearted (Deut. 20:8), and Gideon sent all but three hundred of his men home (Judg. 7:3). We could be tempted to think that God is merely interested in maintaining an army of warriors when he commands us not to fear. Battle-readiness is indeed a major goal, but God has a motive that reveals his long-term and personal care for each of his warriors.

We find the key in the following passage: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:18-19). As God prepares our hearts to spend eternity with him, removing fear is on the top of his list. The Bible is full of commands not to fear, but rather to trust.

This work of fear removal is for our own good, because we never will feel at home with him if it is not replaced by his love – which is, interestingly, the opposite of fear. Indeed, fear is like a foretaste of the torment and punishment of hell. If we doubt the goodness of his motives or fear what he allows in our lives, arriving in heaven would not solve that very basic breakdown of our relationship with him.

So, are we punished for being fearful? Is there no compassion and understanding? I would suggest that these are the wrong questions. Undoubtedly, cowardly fear is one of the traits of the unbeliever when he stands before God, but the believer is in a lifelong process of preparation for heaven – which includes the uprooting of ungodly fear. The Lord would actually be unloving to allow us to continue suffering in the torment of fear – whether in this life or the next. God works in our hearts to remove the punishment of being fearful with the goal of ultimately rescuing us from the punishment for being fearful. These days are an unparalleled opportunity to allow that work of mercy continue – whatever lies ahead.