Seeking His Heart
So many have had their say on our current dilemma. I’ll chime in from my little corner of the world.
It seems surreal in a way how within just four weeks so much has changed and changed rapidly. I will say that I have enjoyed the slower pace of life: get up later, stay up longer, no appointments, no running here and there, opportunity to call friends, take walks, contribute to food drives, get projects done, time to read books, and time to edit my own book.
At the same time, my heart goes out to those who have lost their incomes, those who struggle to put food on the table, families who were dysfunctional, now having to cope with each other, frustrated mothers, closed-in children, and on it goes.
My mind has gone to the plagues that God placed on Egypt, when he was preparing the way for the children of Israel to be free. It always brings the question—does God bring bad things on us or does he merely allow them? Does he want to bring death and suffering even to believers who have succumbed to this virus? I don’t think so.
This virus reminds me of the way of Satan. Silently, stealthily, it moves among us in silence, randomly attacking whomever it pleases, passing it invisibly from one to another. But God can use this condition in remarkable ways.
With these thoughts in mind, I came across a quote by former LSU coach, Dale Brown. Perhaps you have seen it.
“In a few short months, just like the plagues of Egypt, he has taken away everything we worship. God said, you want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down the civic centers. You want to worship actors, I will shut down the theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market.”
I might add, you want to worship your school friends, dance lessons, sports practice, play practice, ball games, and all busy activities, I will shut down the schools. You want to worship or substitute the church buildings, programs, and activities for your faith, I will shut down the churches. Have we left even our faith to the busyness of the world?
Dale Brown concluded his thoughts with,
“Maybe we don’t need a vaccine. Maybe we need to take this time of isolation from the distractions of this world and have a personal revival on the only thing in the world that really matters. And that is to please God.”
Jesus said it another way,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” That’s a lot of alls. Also, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:30-31
Oh, that we could say with David,
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14
~ Joyce ~
I pray that this time will bring us closer to the creator of all. May we begin to realize what really matters. I can’t wait till we can worship together again. May we never take for granted that sacred gift.
Yes, Harry, may we all grow in some way during this time through quiet time, devotional thoughts, acts of love, and certainly we are growing more innovative. Our Sunday School class has been using zoom. It doesn’t replace actually being together physically, but it is good to faces and hear familiar voices each week for our lessons. It’s also been teaching churches how to live-stream if they weren’t already doing that.
Okay . . . . . . . I am going to “stick out my neck”. It is my judgment that when it comes to “bad things”, God does not cause; God does not allow; God has NOTHING to do with it.
We live in an imperfect world. Stuff happens. People make mistakes. While I agree that we do need a personal revival, I do not feel that God had any part in our current problem with the coronavirus — or for that matter any other disaster of that type.
Dear “long-neck” Ernie, I agree it is hard to know the mind of God. We do have the example of God speaking to Moses about what was to happen in the various plagues that came upon the Egyptians. We also have the example of God “allowing” Satan to cause destruction in Job’s life. All through Scripture we also see the devastation people caused by their own sinful behaviors, not to mention modern day examples as well. It’s a difficult job to discern what God causes or allows, but to say that he is just standing by neutral seems to dilute the idea that God is in control. Surely we can agree that He is there to help us and teach us in the midst of anything that shakes up our world. Thank you, as always, to make me think. 🙂
I do agree that God is there to give us comfort and assurance in the midst of our problems and issues and to give us guidance as to our response — I just have problems accepting that my God of Love has anything to do with disease or other “bad” things. However, I know others feel differently. When I was in the Journey of Faith Class for about six months, we had a lesson where I expressed how I felt. (No one else spoke to the issue.) Jim Brock was teaching. He told the story about a lady who had become a quadripligic (sp). He said that she felt that everything that happened to her “went through the hand of God,.” If I were in her shoes, and I felt that God had anything to do with my condition, I’m afraid I could not be as gracious as she.
Yes, Ernie, here are many things our finite minds cannot understand. God is love. He is merciful. He is also just and demanding. He is powerful and commanding. He is caring and forgiving, but he is not nilly willy. He is in control, however that looks in his infinite wisdom. It is pretty powerful to realize that nearly all the nations have had to face this virus. Satan is also always at work even in the lives of dedicated believers, even today’s martyrs. God can work to restore, redeem, or give endurance in it all.
Joyce,
Thank you for a well-written response. I always enjoy your blog. It causes me to think and it causes me often to question my long-held beliefs.
Long Neck Ernie
Hi Joyce,
These are the same thoughts I have been having. You put it into beautiful words I could not. I miss my Kentucky family and friends. I had planned to spend Easter in Kentucky. I am now isolated in my independent living studio apt. But, I have had time to grow in God’s word, get some housekeeping chores done and am so thankful they are taking such good care of us here. I pray you and your family are well.
Blessing to you,
Janice Kidd
So good to hear from you, Janice. I miss you.
You said beautifully what I was feeling in my heart but couldn’t find the right words. Busyness is as addicting as the others – chemical, food, gambling, etc. – if you allow it to consume your life so that you forget to praise and thank God for His blessings. Like you, I have enjoyed slowing down and not being a slave to multiple calendars and deadlines. I also just noticed that two of my beloved Labrador retrievers are starting to show signs of aging (both girls just turned 12 years old) and I would have missed their golden years by all of the busyness. Sometimes what seems to be a curse can be a blessing if you pay attention.
Thank you fore sharing, Gale. We can probably say with a unanimous vote that we are all too busy. Hopefully, we will temper our coming days with that in mind when this virus is past us.
This was a very thoughtful way of emphasizing how our culture pushes us into consuming every minute of the day with activities and entertainments. I am retired and write articles for the ladies in my ministry to help them through difficult times and to think and react biblically in our time. We MUST NOT allow our fast culture to strongly influence our way of thinking. We MUST PRACTICE meditation in quietness so we can learn from the Holy Spirit through the Word. When we are thoroughly familiar with the divine unseen truth, we will be able to quickly reject the false temporary seen ideas of the world. (See II Corinthians 4:18) II Peter 1:2-4 also emphasizes the exceeding great and precious promises of God’s word that help us become partakers of the divine nature to ESCAPE the corruption and lust of this world. Thank you God for this appointed time of isolation. May we draw near to Him with greater love and see a revival in our hearts, a deeper love to win the lost, and stronger prayer lives!
Well said, Mary Louise. These days of being “shut in” are hopefully being used in the ways you mentioned.
Thank you Joyce.
Thanks for reading, Julie.