We are not alone…
And no, I’m not talking about life on other planets.
I’m talking about the fact that in times like this it is very easy to develop this “Deist” kind of mindset. Oh, we know God is out there somewhere, He is maybe sitting on His heavenly couch, eating grapes and watching all this madness going on down here on planet earth, like some sit and watch sitcoms in their living rooms in the evenings.
God is there we think, but He doesn’t interact with His creation, He’s just watching as we stumble along, as messy as it is most of the time. He just lets us go and do whatever and never intervenes, you know He doesn’t want to destroy our creativity or infringe on our “Freewill”…
In times of personal trials and suffering it is very easy to think you’re alone, that there is no one who cares, no one standing by your side, no one to defend you. And then you start thinking that you have to make things work out for you on your own, you have to find the answers, you have to fight the battle all the way through by yourself because there is no back-up coming, no rescue team. In fact, you may have heard that old saying “No man is an island” and you laugh at it because, as far as you can see, you’re the only boat in the ocean. The worst part about it is no one even realizes that you are alone.
Think about some of those men and women who may have been tempted to feel all alone in their the hour of their greatest need; Joseph, after he had been thrown into a pit and then sold into slavery, the children of Israel as they were in slavery for 400 years, Abraham as an old man with no heirs, the woman with an issue of blood at Jesus’ feet, Mary as she stood in the garden looking for the body of Jesus. Yeah, I’m thinking that those situations and those people may have felt alone…
And we consistently see throughout the Word of God that He was ever present in the lives of His people…
Joseph was in the place where he could save the nations around him from famine because God was with him.
The Children of Israel, though they thought they were alone would know that “God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel – and God knew.”
That woman at Jesus’ feet? Oh, Jesus was present with her as healing went out to her.
And Mary, oh, she heard Him tenderly speak her name and she would never be alone again.
So, here we are, quarantined, not being able to get things at the grocery store, not going many places because of travel restrictions and when we are able to go places, many things are closed, no physical church services, people are sick and dying, and we are scared of this Coronavirus stuff and probably many other things that I haven’t thought of that you are struggling with in the midst of all this.
You feel alone.
You feel separated from family, friends, the world. You feel like you’re in this all by yourself. And honestly, some people might just be waiting for the end. You may even feel like God, well He is just not there…
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
Romans 8:31-39 (ESV)
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let me just remind you of a couple of things:
- God is actively involved in His creation. Not one thing happens that He has not ordained, all things are under His control. He is not just sitting in the heavens eating popcorn watching it all unfold. And though we may not like the things going on, God is God and I am not…
- He is on our side. You have a heavenly Father that is walking right by your side listening to every prayer, every word, storing up every one of your tears, in fact, if we are honest your hope in Him is the only thing that gets us through any 24 hour period of our entire life. His Son Jesus is ever with us knowing every pain and every sorrow, for He too has been clothed in human flesh.
- God cares. He cared so much that He gave His Son, Jesus, for our atonement. No longer condemned, we are justified through Christ. And now Jesus is interceding on our behalf to the Father.
- We can never be separated from the love of God that is found in Jesus. NOTHING can separate us from Him! NADA, NIL, NOT A THING, NO ONE, NOT EVEN YOURSELF!!!! Not even this CORONAVIRUS! NO disease, or trial, or supermarket line or lack of toilet paper, can separate us from our Master and Commander!!! There isn’t a power on earth that can separate us from Him; Not a president or king or government, nothing in all of creation.
And why are all these things true? Because we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us.
Call me naive, or a fool if you like, but we are not to fear what this virus can do, we have already been given an even greater victory over sin, Satan, and death through the work of Jesus on Calvary’s cross two thousand years ago.
We are not alone today. We are not scared today. We place all our hope in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ who is ever-present in our lives.
Where is Corona right now? I don’t know, but I do know where my Jesus is at this moment – I feel His breath on my neck and His nail-scarred hands holding mine as we walk through these trials…
Soli Deo Gloria