April 11, 2020
As I begin my post for the day it is the day between Good Friday and Easter, 2020. Everything in the world around us seems surreal, seems like it is turned upside down. Schools are closed, teachers are attempting to teach online, restaurants are take out only, no eat-in. The girls work from home, only going in to work for a few hours a day. We are constantly hearing the terms social distancing and flatten the curve. When I leave the house I wear a surgical mask, its almost like a science fiction movie. I listen to Governor Cuomo’s daily update, 783 more deaths in New York State alone. I take that previous analogy back – not like a science fiction movie but a horror movie, now over 8000 deaths during the past two weeks in New York State alone.
I wonder sometimes where is God in this. I know He is there, I trust that He is still in control; I don’t however, understand where this all going. How and when will this all end, can we ever get back to where we were just one month ago. On this day 2000 years ago there were a group of men and women who were experiencing similar thoughts. For 3 years everything was great, yeah, some things that He taught they couldn’t understand. But look at all He knew, look at all He did, all the miracles – this Jesus had to be the Messiah. He had to be from God Himself, He had to be the one who would finally free Israel. But now, they witnessed His arrest, the witnessed His torture, then finally they witnessed His crucifixion and death. They had placed all their hopes in this one man, now all their hopes were gone. Cleopas had said it best, “We had hoped that He was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel” (Luke 24: 21). That hope had turned into hopelessness. Now they hid behind locked doors experiencing both fear and shame. Fear that the Pharisees would find them and kill them also; shame for deserting Jesus just as He had predicted. As the Roman soldiers challenged Jesus on the cross, “if you are the Son of God”, then save yourself. The disciples that witnessed the crucifixion probably agreed; why didn’t Jesus save Himself, if He was indeed all that He claimed to be, why didn’t He put up more of a fight?
What could they do, where could they go? Somehow they needed to escape Jerusalem and return to the homes, return to their way of life prior to being called by Jesus to follow Him. Nothing would be the same, that hope is now filled with hopelessness; that purpose in life had now changed to emptiness. Our lives had been filled with excitement, a sense of direction, a sense of purpose, now their lives were just empty shells. Full of life, a life of emptiness.
When will this pandemic, this coronavirus end? How will it end; how many will die? Will we, can we ever get back to normal? What kind of financial implications does all this have? I have been hearing for years about a coming financial collapse, a coming financial earthquake, are we experiencing the tremors leading up to that earthquake. It seems that all the signs are there. God, where are you in this, what lessons do you want us to learn? In Your Word – Romans 8:28, You tell us through the apostle Paul that “all things work together for God, for those who love and are called according to His purpose”. What is Your purpose God, thousands are dying, hundreds of thousands are experiencing this life threatening virus, hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs, hundreds of thousands are suffering and losing hope. Where does it end Lord, where are You taking us?