Many liberal Christians have come out strong in their opposition against God having anything to do with the sending of the Coronavirus, rejecting a God who is involved with the affairs of the world. But the fact of the matter is that God is the ultimate cause for everything that happens on earth, so, it is important for believers to think through what exactly God is doing through this pandemic.
God is constantly working in a million ways at all times. He is constantly at work in the world and in the hearts and lives of believers in so many ways that we will never know.
Obviously, it is impossible to know fully the mind of God, but it is clear that God is Sovereign over every single event in history, including the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus.
Many liberal Christians have come out strong in their opposition against God having anything to do with the sending of the Coronavirus, rejecting a God who is involved with the affairs of the world. But the fact of the matter is that God is the ultimate cause for everything that happens on earth, so, it is important for believers to think through what exactly God is doing through this pandemic.
John, in 1 John 5:14
, writes about an important truth we can hope in as believers. That is if we pray according to God’s will that He hears us. In other words, God doesn’t listen to prayers that aren’t according to His will, but when our will is aligned with the Lord’s, He does listen.
God loves to bless believers when their greatest desire is God’s glory. And so, I pray that throughout this Coronavirus quarantine that God uses it to grow my affections for Him and His will. Here are some ways I think He is working through this pandemic and is going to bring glory to Himself.
God is increasing our love for the gathering more.
My 3-year-old daughter just said that she really misses going to church and that she misses her Sunday school teachers. As her primary Sunday school teacher right now, I’m trying not to take that personally, but it is quite obvious that there is nothing like being with other children at church. While I’m thankful for the opportunity to listen to worship services online and for zoom meetings, there is nothing like gathering together as believers; it is a mandate and rightfully so.
At the beginning of this, there was concern that people would “get used to” online services, and that when the quarantine is lifted they might not return to church but choose to “worship online” from here on out. I didn’t think that before and I don’t believe it now. True believers know that there is nothing like being in the same room with other heaven-bound saints, singing, giving, partaking of the Lord’s supper together and sitting under the same teaching.
He is growing our love for other Christians.
It has been such an encouragement to interact with other Christians. So many have been incredible examples of how to suffer well. While the world, despairs and fights with one another, I have seen so many examples of believers responding well to trials. Whether it is death of loved ones, evangelism, loss of work and finances, or simply thinking about this in a biblical way, it is quite obvious that God is using this to grow our affection and care for one another. I think that the way Christians have loved one another and cared for one another throughout this time will be used by God in a mighty way to draw people to Himself.
He is making us hate fighting with one another.
Fighting with other Christians just seems so foolish right now. Watching politicians and journalists over the past month has been fascinating. They cannot get along. There seemed to be a day or two last month where it seemed like people were able to stand each other, but that quickly went away. Christians are not immune to this, they fight. They fight often. But I think that the Coronavirus situation is causing us all to think about fighting in a different light. There are souls dying all around us, we are not in control of our next breath and suddenly fighting over music styles and carpet colors seems so foolish.
