“Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you.” - Jeremiah 14:7
The fear is as real as it is current. Coronavirus or COVID-19, as the World Health Organization refers to it, is now making its way around the globe. I will not quote numbers of new cases as that number changes daily; however, the virus has made itself felt in no less than forty-nine nations as of today’s date. It is quickly reaching the likelihood of being called a pandemic. According to Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, “It’s a matter of time, but I think that it’s only days or weeks from the World Health Organization calling this [COVID-19] a pandemic.” So, without histrionics or over-dramatization, it is safe to say that the Coronavirus is becoming a disease of historical significance.
Although the exact number of fatalities is impossible to estimate at this time, the best guess for the virus stands at about 2% according to the WHO; lower than for SARS (9.6%) but more than the Swine Flu (0.02%). So, with all that we know about this strange disease and all that we have yet to know about it, how should Americans view the threat? “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.”- Psalm 34:17.
Our title verse is a cry for help from God’s chosen people, the Hebrews. So while the situation doesn’t involve the gentile masses or unbelievers, there is still a profound lesson to be learned here by all. The Hebrews recognized their sinful transgressions against God as the source of their problems, they called upon God to act for His “name’s sake” so that the unbelievers wouldn’t be able to mock Him and ridicule His name because of the tribulations of His people. Now, if the Hebrews’ recognition of their iniquities were enough to bring them to their knees before God, what is keeping us from doing the same?
I am not suggesting to anyone that prayer alone will bring the threat of COVID-19 to a conclusion because I don’t know the decretive will of God. Perhaps this is His way of chastening us. After all, it’s not like America, or the world for that matter “The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.” - Proverbs 10:27.
The Hebrews, in their painful supplication, acknowledged their backslidings and their sins. Now, while the unbelieving public is not backsliding, they are sinning against God. How, you dare ask? Let me count the ways, and be assured that many Christians are guilty of the same; we advocate for abortion, homosexuality, immodesty in thought, word, and deed; idolatry, heresies too numerous to count; greed, laziness, pride, arrogance, adultery, loose sexual behavior; the list is far too grand to document all our iniquities. And we have the nerve to question why a good, loving, and gracious God would allow such a terrifying disease like COVID-19 to “prowl around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour?”
So what is left for us to do? One might heed the words of Scripture, remembering when God spoke to His people - “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” - Deuteronomy 12-13.
We must continue to use the science God has graciously infused into our universe to combat, cure, and conquer this dread disease in addition to prayerfully seeking both repentance and the wise and righteous fear of the Lord. Only then will we be armed to courageously face that roaring lion!
is living a God-fearing life.
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