Our time in history is not defined by a virus.
Certainly, COVID-19 is becoming part of our history. We don’t need to pretend it hasn’t changed how we function day to day. Yet we can still flourish in this season by reading God’s word as family, praying, resting in God’s sovereignty together, and giving thanks—for even a cup of coffee or an encouraging story.
Because God’s word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11), I believe we’ll come out of this isolation loving God more, loving others more, and being more equipped to make Christ known in our communities and among the nations.
This is not a wasted season. However weak or perplexed we may feel, we can rest in knowing that God is shaping who we are becoming.
God isn’t using this season of isolation to quench us as believers … but to strengthen us!
Yet it gets even better—you were made for this point in history! Do you understand this?
Ephesians 2:10 states, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
This verse is not a question, or a conditional sentence (if, then). It is a declaration about the ultimate reality defined by God’s word: We are in Christ by grace, through faith. We are His handiwork with a gospel-centered purpose that He spoke before the foundation of the world.
There is so much joy available to us in Christ. Remind yourself every morning, afternoon, and evening: “God has a purpose in this season. He has a purpose rooted in the gospel for me and for my neighbors.”
Remember, COVID-19 doesn’t control God. God’s ability to run the universe, love you, and strengthen you is unhindered. He is absolutely holy and sovereign.
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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” (Romans 8:37-39).
Let God’s word calm and marinate your soul so that when you look back on this season, the words of Psalm 28:6-7 will awaken your joy.
“Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.”
Psalm 28:6-7 (ESV)
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