Since the outbreak of the coronavirus began just a short while ago, and especially in all that has ensued in the last couple of weeks, I think we’ve seen a deep, widespread, and palpable expression of fear. From the constant bombardment of hourly updated news headlines, to the nonsense that is plastered all over Facebook, to the panic buying of goods in grocery stores, fear seems to be running rampant.

In the midst of this, it is tempting for me to stop writing and sharing. It’s easy for me to think, “Who cares right now? People have more important things to worry about.”

Maybe part of that is true, but I refuse to succumb to the lie that what I have to share is not of value because someone else has already said something like it. I encourage you to do the same.

---

In the last few months, for as little as I have actually posted, I have done a quite a bit of writing. I’ve been trying to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, to hear what God is saying in the here and now, and specifically the things that He might have for me to share.

I’ve been guilty of having a lot of ideas and encouragement that I simply haven’t shared in a timely manner. And while I don’t think the entire value of a message is lost if it is shared outside of the specific timeframe in which it is given, I do think its value and effectiveness can be diminished. 

I think that is an important lesson in and of itself.

In these uncertain and even fearful times, I think exercising the personal disciplines that are still within our grasp to do and using the gifts we have been given to help others is all the more important. Doing so helps us and others hold onto some sense of normalcy that we are all aching for.

---

Last week, I noticed a strange and subtle transition taking place in the posture of my heart: I found my rootedness in the Lord gradually giving way to thoughts that were more and more filled with fear.

As a result of the sometimes absurd quantity of news articles that I read, I realized that the news of the coronavirus and the fear that it can induce had captured more of my gaze and attention than God Himself.

I had begun to idolize fear.

Practically speaking, I think that is a useful definition of how simple idolatry really is: any time someone or something captures more of our gaze and attention than God Himself.

And that’s something that can happen so quickly and easily—for me it was totally subconscious. I made no clear, cognitive decision to idolize the news, politics, or fear itself, but the less I gazed upon God and focused on Him—the less I “fixed my eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2)—the more wayward I felt and the more fearful I became. I described it to my wife, Sara, like falling asleep aboard a ship that has gone off course, only to awake and find that you’ve lost your bearings.

All of that happened in a very short period of about three days of intensified over-reading for me.

In light of that, may I encourage and remind you, friends, to cling tightly to the things that tether you to Jesus during this time and set aside the things that induce fear and are outside of your control:

• Recognize what is outside of your control. It is in our nature, broken as it is, to desire to control all of the things around us. There is nothing like a pandemic to teach us just how truly out of control we actually are. As scary as that might seem, allow that idea to lead you into deeper surrender of your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors into the loving and capable arms of Jesus. That is really what His lordship is about: the surrendering of our control to Him. The sooner we embrace that, the sooner we can embrace His peace, no matter the circumstances.

• Don’t over-consume the news. It’s important to stay informed, but it’s more important to make sure that the balance of what we are influenced by are things that point us to God and not to the spirit of fear which the nature of His perfect love expels (see 1 John 4:18).

• Read. the. Word. It’s hard to know what to believe right now, especially on social media–which is another thing to not over-consume whether you are quarantined or not. Everyone and everything seems to have an agenda. That makes it especially important for us to be anchored to and continually nourished by the unchanging words of God, the Bible.

• Pray. Pray for the healing of the sick. Pray for the virus to meet a swift end, in Jesus’ name, and for the medical professionals working on therapies and vaccines to be spiritually aided in the process. Pray for our local and global economies to not collapse. Pray for your neighbors and friends and families to be provided for. Pray also for your enemies, you know like Jesus said? Pray for the homeless who may be hit especially hard during this time. Pray for your governmental and church leaders. Pray for the lost who don’t know Jesus and don’t have the assurance of hope and peace and salvation in Him. And, above all, pray for the Father’s good and perfect will and kingdom to come and be done “here on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

• Listen and meditate. Along with intercessory prayer (i.e. interceding for someone or something), make sure you are taking uninterrupted quiet time to sit and listen to the Lord’s voice. What He has to say to you and about you monumentally outweighs any and everything else. This is what Jesus modeled when He would go away early in the morning to quiet and “desolate” places to pray (see Mark 1:35).

• Love your neighbor. Jesus said this command was like loving God in its importance (Matthew 22:39). To any and every extent possible that is within your ability and means, aid those who are in need during this time. If you’re young and healthy, pick up groceries or medicines for elderly neighbors. Drop off extra goods you may have on hand at a local church. This doesn’t mean you have to violate city declarations or warnings from the CDC, but you can still search for ways to actively seek and serve the least of these (see Matthew 25:40).

In all of these things, keep Christ at the center and remember who you are in Him: a child of God. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry ‘Abba! Father!'” (Romans 8:15).

With that great gift also comes the security, sanctity, power, and authority of His household to co-labor in His kingdom work in these dark times.

Whatever may come to pass in the coming days, weeks, and months, we can rest assured in the unchanging nature of a kind, loving, and steadfast God. If you are not a believer in Jesus, know that His love is ever-present, willing, ready, and waiting to usher into your heart not just the promise of eternal salvation for the life to come, but the hope and peace to endure times like this in the present one.

---

I leave you with one of my favorite and timely benedictions of the Apostle Paul to the early church in Thessalonica:

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”

2 Thessalonians 3:16

---

References:

Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2011.