A Virus Too Close

Social media blogs proliferate over the central issue of the pandemic nowadays. The dominant themes, among others, are blaming China where the virus came from, there is also the conspiracy theory of the virus as a bio-weapon, the blogs also give notice to the earth people to go back to spiritual basics. Among the social media blogs going on these days, there was one blog that caught my interest.   It pleaded for God to stop the coronavirus so life can be normal again.  I wondered about what is normal.  By normal I surmise the blogger meant, going back to our daily rut of going to work, keeping busy on earning money to indulge on the routine of accumulating material stuff, returning to entertainment mode that boost  our adrenaline, like watching sports events, Hollywood movies, going to theme parks again, or resuming the planned vacation this summer.  But participating in church assembly is skipped or the farthest from one’s mind. The normal is all the self-gratification stuff. The stuff that nourishes the body and mind and heart.  But never the soul.

Certainly, coronavirus has and continue to change all that.  As of this writing there is posted information that there is 607, 965 staggering infection, 28,125 deaths and 132,688 recovered, all over the globe.  The United States now leads with 104, 837 cases.  The virus is yet to be contained.  Scientists are still grappling in their research for the antidote to dissipate the virus.  Meanwhile, medical health workers, the new heroes we call front liners are in the hospital battlefields trying to win over the war. They are on 24/7 shift to help and heal the affected people.  Government leaders, in their quandary, are leading to control the pandemic and appeasing people.  They imposed geographical lockdowns and ordered people to stay home and be safe to prevent further spread and contamination from the virus. There is solidarity in countries to act as one to win the war against the pandemic.

But let us pause for a moment and reverse our thinking.  I am not saying this pandemic is a good thing.  It is a bad thing for sure.  I just want, in our all-of-a-sudden free time, to think also of what positive outcome this virus has brought to our lives.  World pollution had dropped dramatically.  Streets, highways and byways are almost empty.

We now continue to see the parity of men, rich and poor alike lining up to get food in groceries an supermarkets in order to survive. There is now more time to bond with our loved ones. Family is now our focus rather than the corporate scheming and competition in our careers.  Meanwhile the ecosystem continues to heal because of the absence of abuse it normally gets from callous humans.  Nature and the universe are teaching us a lesson here.   Suddenly, we are reduced to vulnerability and fear.   Our arrogance gave way to humility.  We were forced to acknowledge that our little gods, that are, celebrity idols, love for power and money, penchant for fame and adoration from folks,  reinforcing political party power base and affiliation, are simply nothing, nada, zero over the reality of life in the hospitals where the virus is adamantly abetting our pride and prejudice.  The health issue became the overriding concern, not those little gods mentioned above.

Now we come to realize that there is a higher power that allowed all this.  There is One whom the Jewish people call Yahweh that has control over everything. Over two thousand years ago, in 2 Chronicles 7, He said:

¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³ When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

People, now we have a clear choice.  To go on with our own individual selfish pursuit that we call normal.  Or open our hearts and mind to the lesson He is teaching here and acknowledge our powerlessness to His sovereignty.  To accept that He is in control of our lives.  Today is not still too late. God’s attributes are patience, lovingkindness, long-suffering. His grace transcends over all our issues.  For one beautiful parallel, He allowed the chief devil, just like what He did in the time of Job, for the sinister father of lies to afflict Job and test the heart of His beloved Job as to where the latter stands in his faith.

In this ongoing global hellish situation of man, God is indeed patient and loving.  Paul in his all-time, all-purpose message in the Book of Romans 13 wrote:

¹¹ And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. ¹² The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So, let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³ Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. ¹⁴ Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.^[c]