March 17, 2020
What surreal and sobering times in which we live! And yet we can confidently say with David, “But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hands…” (Psalm 31:14-15). Each day this week, and for the indefinite future, the staff at Pear Orchard will aim to post a brief word of encouragement and counsel here on our website. This morning I want to share three truths that have been bouncing around in my head and heart these past days.
Plague and pestilence are from our sovereign Father. In all our human efforts to stem to spread of this virus, let us not forget that this physical, social, and economic disaster is according to the sovereign will of God. He was not caught by surprise by this outbreak like we have been, for He “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). We learn that pestilence and disease specifically is from the hand of God in I Chronicles 21. After David had sinned against the Lord by numbering the people of Israel, God sent the prophet Gad to declare to David, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Take for yourself either three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel’” (I Chronicles 21:11-12). David responds, “I am in great distress; please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.” George Armstrong, a Presbyterian pastor in Norfolk, Virginia, during the days of the yellow fever epidemic in 1855, noted regarding David’s words: “Thus he speaks, not because David did not regard famine and war as a part of God's providence, but in the pestilence, the mysterious, the terrible pestilence, "the pestilence that walketh in darkness, the destruction that wasteth at noon-day" [Psalm 91:6], the soul instinctively acknowledges the presence of an agent, fresh from before the eternal throne.” God sovereignly sends pestilence, even as He sovereignly sends the hurricane or tornado, according to His inscrutable, mysterious will. Like any trial, though, for the people of God this affliction comes as His fatherly discipline (Hebrews 12:5ff.; I Corinthians 11:32). So David could acknowledge that suffering through a period of plague (which in that case killed 70,000 Israelites) was actually falling into the hands of a God whose mercies are great. “Though He slay me, yet I will hope in Him,” declared Job in Job 13:15. And so must we hope in Him as we endure this judgment of God from His loving hand of discipline. He causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28). And so we can say with Jeremiah, “For the Lord will not reject forever, for if He causes grief, then He will have compassion, according to His abundant lovingkindness” (Lamentations 3:21-32).
Our joy in changing times is grounded in our unchanging salvation. Few passages of God’s word state this as explicitly as I Peter 1:3-6. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials…” As we are distressed by various trials for a little while, as God deems it necessary, we greatly rejoice in “this” - and what is the “this”? It is the salvation that God has accomplished for us in Jesus Christ. Salvation past - God has raised Jesus from the dead, and has caused us to be born again to a living hope through His resurrection. Salvation future - we have an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance reserved in heaven for us and ready to be revealed in the last time. Salvation present - even now God is protecting us by His power for this salvation to come. Because this salvation is sure, then our joy is great - no matter what we might be suffering. Our joy is not found in our circumstances but in our God and in His grace to us in Jesus. Are we distressed right now? Absolutely, and Peter does not deny the distressing, sorrowful nature of trials and afflictions. Yet he affirms that even in our sorrow there is a deeper undercurrent of joy that holds us up as we suffer. So let us rejoice and be glad even as we endure the hardships of these days.
Though we cannot gather for corporate worship right now, we can and must gather for private worship and family worship. The desire to limit the spread of the coronavirus has led us to forego assembling together in person on the Lord’s Day for a season, and thankfully we have the technology to meet virtually through the internet. But formal worship in the public assembly is not our only opportunity to worship God. Yes, it’s true, all of life is to be worship for the Christian, so that whether we eat or drink or work or play, we are to do all to the glory of God (I Corinthians 10:31). But more specifically, we are to worship God in secret, each one by ourselves, and in our families. Spend time by yourself each day crying out to God in your distress, and thanking Him for His mercies that are new every morning. Listen to His word before you listen to the morning news or to your newsfeed on Twitter or Facebook. Fill your hearts with His truth before they are filled with fear and trembling at the increasing number of COVID-19 cases or the decreasing number of the stock markets. With our children off of school, and so many activities cancelled, even at church, it is all the more imperative that we redeem the time and take advantage of these strange circumstances to engage in family worship each day. Whether first thing in the morning or right after dinner or just before bed, gather your family together to sing, to read the Bible, and to pray. Keep it simple, especially if you’re doing family worship for the first time. Sing the assuring hymns and songs of the church down through the ages. Comfort and encourage the hearts of your children with God’s truth and grace. Answer their questions from His word. Praise and thank God for His goodness in the midst of suffering. Intercede for the sick, for our leaders, for health care workers, for those who don’t know Jesus, for missionaries in other countries. Worship Him as the God who does as things well.
There are so many more truths that we can take hold of and live in the light of, but I hope that these three will sustain your heart this day. God is sovereign, wise, and good.