I love writing devotional blogs. Usually some God given idea will come to mind by the Spirit that will begin to percolate in my brain until it forms something more than just an idea, and a blog is eventually born. Since coronavirus arrived, I have written nothing. Many of you who regularly read my blogs will already have realized that I have been recycling old ones. Not a single idea has popped into my head this entire time about which I feel I can write.
I usually tell people that if I haven’t written a blog in a while it’s because I’ve been neglectful of those things that keep me close to the Lord, and empowered by the Spirit, but that hasn’t been true during this time of isolation.
Our pastor has graciously been daily recording devotional videos since the start of the pandemic, first going through the entire gospel of John, followed by Acts, and now on to 1 Corinthians, and so nearly every day I have read a psalm, that day’s chapter, and then listened to the video. Afterward, I’ve spent time praying, for loved ones who don’t yet know Jesus, as well as for those loved ones who do, and praying for a variety of other things. I have probably been more disciplined to be in God’s Word and in prayer than I have been in a long time because when we’re not on lock down, other activities get in the way.
I’ve puzzled over this inability to write for a really long time, until today I think I finally can pinpoint the reason – I have not be personally touched by the virus. I only know of one person, a neighbor of my daughter Becky’s, who contracted the virus and was able to manage it at home. None of our family members are sick, and all of my children are still working, or being paid by their company.
I have been in situations before when another Christian, who’s life seems to me to be untouched by suffering, tries to speak into my pain. Their words sound shallow, and trite. Their stories of others whose children came out of drug abuse, or who were rebellious and then turned to the Lord, not really helpful. They didn’t spawn my hope, they made me feel worse. In my mind I think, of course one can be cheerful and full of faith when everything is going well. I didn’t want to be one of those people trying to speak into the life of someone with whom I could not relate, so I haven’t written.
After all, I don’t know what it is like to have a loved one diagnosed with COVID 19, hospitalized alone, without the comfort of family, to have them die alone without personal good-byes. I have no idea of the depth of grief that brings to the family.
I don’t know what it is like to be unemployed, maybe both husband and wife, and have no income, with children to feed and bills to pay. I don’t know the kind of panic and desperation that causes.
I don’t know what it is like to have the school shut down and to add to all the other concerns that weigh on parents’ minds, the necessity of having to home school your children, or face a summer without camps when you both have to work.
I don’t know what it is like to have a family member in health care who can’t come home because of COVID exposure, worrying daily whether they’ll catch the virus themselves.
I do lose sleep at night, anxious over who might get the virus and who might lose their jobs, questioning who to believe as I listen to conflicting opinions about masks, medicines, opening up or staying on lock down. Sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy! Nevertheless, my life and that of my family members, has not suffered loss. I am incredibly grateful for that, but aware that it is not everyone’s story.
So, what do I say to suffering people when my own life has not been touched?
All I can do is share what has been sustaining me through these long weeks of lock down, when I wake in the night with anxiety and as I go through my days.
The answer is simple, not a what really, but a Who. JESUS
Jesus isn’t just a name to me. Jesus is not just a character I heard about in church when I was a kid. Jesus isn’t biblical character I happen to know a lot of things about. No, I KNOW Jesus as a person, as a friend, as a constant companion, as Someone so worthy of worship, as a personal Savior, as the One who loved me enough to die for me so that I could be with Him forever.
I talk to Jesus during the night when fear threatens. I talk to Him about my family because He knows them very well. I talk to Him about their health, their jobs, their need to know Him for themselves.
Thinking about Jesus calms me. I remember that He has promised that nothing can ever separate me from His love. I remember that He has said: “Call on me and I will answer”, so I know that when I talk to Him, He hears me and answers.
I remember what the Bible says about how great He is. He is powerful, nothing is too hard for Him – not the resolution of global pandemics, or changing the hearts of those I love which seem closed to Him, not economic uncertainty, or the disagreements between those in charge of handling things.
Jesus is sovereign. It may look like presidents, and prime ministers, and health officials are in charge, but it’s really Jesus. He says He’s working things out for our good and His glory, and He means it. He has a plan and a purpose and nothing and no one will prevent Him from carrying out His will. Do you know how comforting that is when I’m anxious?
One thing that has filled me with urgency to pray more and to reprint some old blogs that clearly share the gospel, is that I firmly believe Jesus when He said He was going to come again. I’ve been thinking about that promise a lot! Even when the world seems topsy turvy, that promise gives me hope and joy – even in the midst of a pandemic.
The Apostle Paul calls it, “the blessed hope of His appearing”.
I feel so strongly that His coming gets nearer every day that I have shared the gospel recently with someone I barely know, something I’m not always brave enough to do. I’m posting Bible verses on Facebook in the hope that someone may read them and be drawn to want to know Jesus.
To speak words of comfort to you, when I have no idea what you might be suffering as a result of COVID 19, seems like it might not comfort you at all. But, telling you that Jesus is coming again is critical.
When Jesus came the first time, He came as Savior. He came to live the perfect life of holiness we could NOT live, no matter how hard we might try to obey God’s law, and He lived that perfect life. Fulfilling God’s law perfectly enabled Him to be THE perfect sacrifice for sin, which the justice of a holy God demanded.
The death He suffered should have been OUR death, the just penalty for our sin and failure to keep God’s righteous law. Miracle of miracles, Jesus chose to die MY death for sin, taking MY sin upon Himself, and dying so that God’s justice against sin could be met. His resurrection from the dead was God’s “seal of approval”, if you will, that He accepted His Son’s death as the penalty for MY sin, that I might NEVER have to pay it.
The death and resurrection of Jesus made the GREAT EXCHANGE possible! My sin was transferred to HIS account, and HIS righteousness was transferred to mine, declaring me NOT GUILTY! When I embraced this truth as my own, Jesus claimed me as His very own child. There is now NO condemnation for me, or anyone who is trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice on their behalf, and nothing can every separate me from His love (see Romans, chapter 8).
Jesus came that first time as our Savior, but when He comes again it will be as Judge. At that time, He will separate all those who have rejected His sacrifice on their behalf and they will receive in their bodies the just judgement of God for their sin, which is eternal death. Those who have trusted Jesus will be welcomed into the Eternal Kingdom of the Son to live with Him forever.
That Kingdom will be far beyond our imagining. There will be no night. There will be no more tears, or suffering, or pain, or dying. The righteousness of the Lord will reign – no more sin – in us, in our environment. We will have glorified bodies like the one Jesus had when He was resurrected, bodies that will never get sick, bodies that will live forever. We will be greeted by loved ones who died believing in Jesus’s sacrifice on their behalf and we will recognize them! But the BEST part is that we will SEE JESUS, face to face. His is the first face we’ll long to see.
It has been so difficult to write to people who are suffering when I am not experiencing that suffering for myself. In the light of what I believe is the Lord’s soon coming, I couldn’t not write about that.
This world with its pandemics, economic woes, death and dying, wars, politics, hatred, is real. You know it because you’re experiencing it’s suffering. Yet, there is another world, just as real, though we can’t yet see it. Jesus has promised He will return and usher it in.
Are you ready for His coming? Jesus didn't tell us when. Maybe it will be tomorrow. Are you ready?
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
