We are in a condition that is “very grievous and miserable to others.” We can see this in the panic, in the instability this is bringing to the world. Pestilence—and the fear it brings—is perilous. But for the Christian, we know that, even as this “heavy hand of God” befalls us, “it is for some notable end…God has a use for my life, and intends to bring about his glory some way that I do not know of.”

Psalm 91 promises,

“He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.” (Psalm 91:4-6)

This is God promise. It’s true. Yet pestilence and disease do come. Even to Christians. Such as right now.

How then do we answer this? Is the promise void?

A Rare Jewel of Wisdom from the 17th Century

Enter in a fellow Christian brother from the 17th century, Jeremiah Burroughs. Currently I’m reading through his The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, a book on contentment written around 400 years ago in 1648.

In the book Burroughs gives well-thought out ways Christians can have contentment in any circumstances. It’s a worthwhile read. But pertinent to our present situation is how he applies this to times of pestilence.

I encountered the paragraph a few days ago. It took me by surprise, since we are in the trenches of the coronavirus crisis and since Burroughs hadn’t mentioned pestilence yet in the book. Moreover, it was unexpected because Burroughs in the chapter wasn’t specifically discussing pestilence, but contentment in God’s promises. But what was the area he decided to apply contentment in God’s promises? To God’s promises in times of pestilence and plague.

Looking into his situation, it makes sense why. He lived in London in the mid-1600’s, a time ravaged with emergences of the centuries-old bubonic plague.

This is why Burroughs cites Psalm 91:4-6, the famous text about God’s promise in pestilence. First, Psalm 91 was a great promise of God which could lead Burroughs’s church to contentment. But second, pestilence was surrounding them, currently, and to many it seemed as if God’s promise in Psalm 91 was being countered.

How then did he make sense of it? How do we in our similar coronavirus situation? Burroughs responded with a handful of points on the issue, but his concluding paragraph is a fitting summary. It’s not the easiest read (it’s from the 1640s, after all), so we’ll break it down into three sections. But it’s worth your time.

Pestilence and God’s Promise in Psalm 91:4-6

Burroughs begins,

“Whenever the plague or pestilence comes to those who are under such a promise, it is for some special and notable work, and God requires them to search and examine in a special manner, to find out his meaning; there is so much to be learned in the promise that God has made concerning this particular evil, that the people of God may come to quiet and content their hearts in this affliction.”

When pestilence comes we are to “search and examine in a special manner, to find out his meaning.” We are to search for what purposes God might have. And even if we can’t see what God’s doing, because we have “the promise that God has made concerning this particular evil,” we should aim to “quiet and content [our] hearts in this affliction.”

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