Coronavirus – It’s What’s for Breakfast These Days
One word -coronavirus
Coronavirus or COVID-19 has the world on edge. For the first time in my memory, Disney World is shutting down for the rest of the month. Flights are being canceled, and professional sports are on hold. Folks who planned on travel for Spring Break are staying home or looking for alternate destinations with fewer people. And churches are canceling worship services until further notice, many going live stream today. The church inside the house will be on order today as many check into their church’s live stream for the first time.
Toilet paper, wipes, and paper towels are hot commodities. Forget the chicken breast on sale or big delicious red apples or the big bargains on seafood.
Work, food, basic life necessities are the new stressors. Things many people take for granted are now under the microscope and affected by something they cannot see or gauge – the coronavirus. Someone higher up than the citizens of their affected country is doing everything they can to stop the spread of this disease. Undue anxiety is not the same as a legitimate concern to provide for one’s daily needs.
Peace – can you feel it?
And yet as I sit here this morning, I find peace. Amid all the panic, I find peace.
As I type this, a beautiful red cardinal sings outside my window. This beautiful bird knows nothing about toilet paper shortages, people suffering, or test kit manufacturing. All it knows is it’s a new day, and someone bigger than himself will provide everything he needs.
Matthew 6:26-27, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”
Jesus’ teaching on worry is a heavy one because it asks us to trust him entirely, even in the midst of the chaos and things we can’t control. And as much as we would like to take the reigns on the coronavirus stuff and say we know better than anyone else, we must trust that God knows and will provide. And while we trust, do the responsible things we know we need to do.
It’s in these difficult days, we must also lean in. We must draw closer to the one who has known us since before we were born.
Will that be a problem for a lot of folks? You bet.
Why?
- Many people don’t know the Lord personally.
- Some believers have strayed away from the Lord.
- Some folks are angry with God.
- A lot of people trust in themselves more than God.
- Many people doubt He cares for them.
- There are people who feel unworthy of His love.
Jesus goes on in verse 31-34, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we drink? What shall we wear? For the pagans run after these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But first, seek his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
‘Easy for you to say. You aren’t in my shoes, Jesus!’
Jesus says to seek him first, his kingdom and his righteousness. That would be the first place to start. That’s the key, the combination, the starting route on the map, the first step in the instructions. Seek Him first!
Here’s the bottom line for me.
Don’t be anxious, but pray. Pray, pray, pray. Today is National Day of Prayer.
Seek the Lord while He can be found. Ask Him to show himself to you.
If you are angry with God, resolve that today. Talk to Him about your feelings.
If you have fallen away from the Lord, turn back. Get back into the Bible, read, and pray.
If you have put God on a shelf, and placed yourself on the throne, put God back on the throne in your life.
If you have never trusted in the Lord before, doing something about that today. There are resources on this website to help you do that. See the links and tabs above.
With all the unknowns in this world today, I can tell you one thing is for sure – now is the time to draw closer to the Lord. When you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.
To know the Lord personally is to know peace, faith, hope, and love.
The coronavirus will go down in my mind as the most significant thing to affect the world that I have ever experienced and can recall in my life to date. And while that is big, my God, the creator of the earth is much bigger, and I will choose to trust in the name of the Lord.
What about you?
1 Peter 5:6-7, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
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