It seems that the majority of “Biblical” perspectives on the current situation have a presupposition that God has nothing to do with the impact of the virus, and that it is an enemy of God, a battle that God is somehow having to battle with. Over the past year or so I have been working through the book of Isaiah, and have recently started on Jeremiah. In those books you get a very different perspective. In the time of Isaiah Assyria was the big problem, in Jeremiah’s time it was Babylon. Assyria and then Babylon were the dominant nation, a nation that sought to conquer, and would conquer many nations, including Israel.
So if you were in Judah at the time of either Isaiah or Jeremiah and someone asked you what the biggest problem facing the land was, you would have immediately said Assyria or Babylon. However, God, through the prophets, gave a very different answer. Judah’s biggest problem was her rebellion against God. That was the number one issue she needed to address, it was far more important than Assyria or Babylon.
One verse I read this morning was Jeremiah 5:22 (NIV)
Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord.
“Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
The people were fearing Babylon, they should have been fearing the Lord. Then look at the next bit. I live by the sea and go on many walks by the shore. We just take it for granted that the sand acts as a boundary to the sea. The sea can sometimes be so calm, at other times it is in a violent rage, but there is a boundary. Assyria and Babylon were powerful nations, but they were under God’s control, what they could do was limited by God. Now at one level that is scant comfort! Assyria was allowed to overrun much of the country, they even got to the very walls of Jerusalem, but then they were stopped. Babylon was allowed to destroy the nation, to conquer Jerusalem, to destroy the temple. Many people were carried off into exile in Babylon. But Babylon was limited, it did not last forever, but was defeated, and then the Israelites were allowed to return. Why did God allow Assyria to get to the walls of Jerusalem? Why did God allow Babylon to vanquish Judah? In fact allow is far too weak a word, God used Assyria, He used Babylon. Why did He do that? Because God’s priority was (and is) that His people return to Him, that they end their rebellion against Him, that they live in obedience to Him, and put their trust in Him instead of idols or other nations.
So what does all this say to us in our present crisis? Is the corona virus just something that has happened, or has God sent it for a purpose? Oh, I know that last thought will shock some of you. What should we fear most, this virus and all the associated effects, or should we fear the Lord? What does this nation need most? Is it for us to find a cure of a vaccine for the virus, or is it for us to repent?
What are you praying for most? Is it for the scientists to find a cure for the virus, or is it that this nation (and not just this nation) will look at its life in the light of God’s word and end its rebellion? What do you think this nation needs most? Is it a cure, or is it repentance?
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