I’m a planner. I like my plans and I like the feeling of control that comes from seeing them play out. When my plans don’t go the way I intended them, it sparks fear and anxiety.
During this season of uncertainty related to COVID-19 it seems like all of my plans have been striped away from me and consequently all of my control. As a school teacher, I had ideas of what the next two months would look like and I felt pretty confident in my ability to make it happen. But, in a matter of days I was reminded that even with the most detailed and well laid plans, I am not in control. I am not in control, I never was, but I am much more aware of it now. And I do not like it.
People around the US are experiencing so many emotions related to COVID-19. Maybe you fear contracting the virus or are anxious about your paycheck as you have been told not to come to work or you worry that you may not be able to feed or homeschool your kids while they are out of school. This is a fearsome time for many. Almost everyone in America has had their plans ripped from them and that is not a comforting thing.
During this uncertain and uneasy time is there any thing that can comfort us? Is there any true hope?
For the Christian, the answer is yes. Here is our hope: The God of the universe, who created the Heavens and the Earth, who created you and me, who tells the wind to blow, He is still in control. When we are reminded of our human frailty and our lack of control, we can find comfort in that fact that God is still in control and he is strong. We can rest in the fact that even this situation is completely within His will and even if it doesn’t feel like it now, it is better than any of the plans we had laid.
James 4:13-15 says:
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
During this time, we could choose fear, we could hold tightly to our own plans and expectations. We could choose anxiety and worry about the unknown, OR we can choose to say, “if the Lord wills”.
Christian, if you are choosing anxiety and fear over trusting and resting in a sovereign God, then you are choosing sin which is rooted in unbelief. In a situation like this, you can only trust God if you believe that He is able and willing to carry out His plans and that He and His plans are good. Where does your unbelief lie?
We are called to live confidently, not fearfully, because we have a savior who has defeated death itself and grafted us into the family of God. We have a hope far greater than the fears COVID-19 may bring. We have a hope of eternal glory and what ever hardships and emotions this time may bring, this hope is greater.
If you find that you cannot trust God during this time because you have not accepted his as your personal savior and you are experiencing fear and anxiety related to COVID-19, then I urge you to come to the Father. Come and experience the freedom that comes with having a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This does not exempt you from hardship and trials, but it gives you hope and enables you to weather these hard times.