Be honest now… How many times have you said that in the last few weeks? If you’re like me, it’s likely in the hundreds, and growing. What really is Corona? Is it primarily a sickness or a beverage? What is really going on? What do “they” know that “they” are not telling us? Who’s actually in charge? Is this a bioweapon; a terrorist attack? Is martial law right around the corner? Has the whole country gone crazy? All I can answer, over and over, is “I don’t know”. And oh yeah, the “biggie”…. Does anyone really need that much toilet paper? Sometimes I just want to scream! And I don’t pastor a church so I can’t even share how I feel…. BUT WAIT: I do have this blog! Besides, we have no where to sing or speak for a good while, so I also have some time on my hands.
Regardless of how you believe internally, or how you interpret the onslaught outwardly, there is without a doubt a pandemic in our nation… a pandemic of fear. I think I’ve figured out at the core why so many are responding in the way they are. Who knows? At some level it may even explain the whole “toilet paper” thing… or not.
We live in an “enlightened”, self-absorbed post-christian world. Our sincere Christian beliefs have been maligned, minimized, trivialized, mischaracterized, laughed at and then finally dismissed entirely. And this happened more than a generation ago. It is, however, was nothing new then. From the Old Testament times through modern history we see the overarching desire of man to eliminate God from his thought process.
And why not? If I don’t want someone to tell me that it’s wrong to “check out”, wear my favorite tie dye t-shirt and take a little “trip”, I must first rid myself of that still small voice.. If I want to experience the benefits of living together as a couple outside of marriage, I must first eliminate the stigma attached that this is also somehow wrong. “As long as we’re in love” I say. And should this “freedom” results in the creation of a brand new unborn life, I’ll call “it” by some other name. Then I can eliminate the problem and toss “it” in the trash.
And if You, God, dare tell me that any of this is wrong, well… Sorry, you’ve got to go.
I’ll just move You off Your “little throne” in my heart, and put myself there in Your place. I’ll make all the determinations concerning right and wrong; good and evil thank You very much. I want to do what I choose and then live guilt-free. After all, I’ve grown way too intelligent to believe in the existence of an all knowing God. Long ago I determined that archaic words written on paper that you can see through could not possibly have any relevance to my life. A loving God would not send anyone to hell. The Bible is full of errors and contradictions. Why would God let bad things happen to good people? There’s no God or my marriage would never have failed; my child would have never died. And then the horrible choice is made. Out with the ignorant old fashioned thinking of my parents… and their parents. They just didn’t want me to be happy. They wanted to pronounce everything that brings me pleasure as “wrong”. Move over God. There’s a new king in town… me.
Over the last few years, countless other tiny pieces of dirt and pebbles came loose from the earthen dam that held back the inglorious transition to total self reliance. So much so that we are now facing a time when the “cool” choice for our governmental system is leaning towards one that also discounts God all together. Forget the founding fathers. Forget the Bible. Forget right and wrong. Just give me free stuff. After all, I am the captain of my own ship. I determine my own fate. I will seek what makes me happy, I will make my own desires supreme, not the will of some imaginary ancient Patriarch wielding an outdated, contradictory book of rules. I have become my own “god”. It is all about me.
Then introduce into this tenuous environment of self reliance a credible threat, overblown or not, that totally upsets the day to day continuance of what we call “normal life”. And in a moment, everything unexpectedly changes, This is a threat we cannot see, smell, taste or touch. Something we can’t buy off. An intruder that cannot be shot and killed… with or without a bumpstock. And ultimately we are informed that this ruthless invader is an unrelenting and indiscriminate killer.
It’s no wonder we are afraid. It’s no wonder we can’t buy toilet paper.
And then it becomes clear. There is overpowering fear because there is no supernatural Faith.
So where do we go from here? I don’t know. Will we experience martial law? I don’t know. Will we all set sick? I don’t know. Is all this the pre-cursor to the rapture? I don’t know. Is this a coup? I don’t know. Is this the beginning of the tribulation period? I don’t know. Will things ever be normal again? I don’t know. Is ID2020 the mark of he beast? I don’t know. Is the world coming to an end? I don’t know. Will the power grid fail? I don’t know. Will we even survive all this? I don’t know. As a matter fact, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.
How’s all this “There is no God” philosophy working out for you now?
I also don’t know what is said in heaven, but I do know that God didn’t wake up one morning and say “Oh no! a virus! I didn’t see this coming”. He did see it coming. He also saw what was right before, and what is right after.
And then the ultimate answer becomes clear. I don’t know… but God does.
If you live in a world where you are the king, a world without Faith, you don’t have that hope. You traded all that for a good time; for the ability to have your world just the way you wanted it. You attempted to escape guilt on the downhill road to hopelessness. Here is what we can learn from “I don’t know” if we are only willing to rethink the bigger picture.
God has not changed, not yesterday, not today, not forever. And God stands full of mercy with open arms to welcome you back home, back to Faith, back to hope. All it requires is Repentance and Faith. Repentance… a turning away from the error of your judgement. Faith… trusting in the finished work of our Savior on the cross as payment for your sin. All you have to do is ask Him into your life. Abdicate you personal throne and invite Him to take that empty spot.
In the midst of all these “I don’t knows” is one giant I do know…
“I KNOW whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day…”
You see, the opposite of fear is faith. If things go as I expect they will, we will one day look back on all this having learned some valuable lessons. If it is the end of the world, I do know what comes next. Talk about the ultimate win/win!
That may not seem like much to you, but for those of us who know Christ, it is more than enough. Want to experience true hope through faith? The Father is waiting. You can start here: John 3:16