The first casualties of upheaval can be love, kindness, and patience. But crisis is also a moment when love for God & one another can spring up. For 150 days, starting on 17th March 2020, I will write 300 words based on one of the 150 psalms in the bible. How can I find and give love in the midst of coronavirus?
1 Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me, 2 or they will tear me apart like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me. 3 Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands – 4 if I have repaid my ally with evil or without cause have robbed my foe – 5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust.
“They are all so stupid – how could they be doing that???”
- People panic buying toilet roll
- Pubs in London full of drinkers
- Some Chinese bloke that tried to eat a bat/snake/pangolin
- 2nd-home owners travelling to their retreat in the country
- The government for doing/not doing something
- …………. the list could go on
The shock of the last few weeks, the fear of illness or death, the upheaval to normal life, the worry about our finances, the stretched relationships … is very sobering. It has pulled us up short. King David (yes, him again) cries out in this psalm for God’s to save him – but then asks a question in verse 3 “Lord my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands“. He asks the question about his responsibility for the attack he is under (in his case attack from other men, not a virus).
This moment, when all that is normal has been shaken, at least for a while, should bring us to our knees with a question. Not asking if we are responsible for the coronavirus – this is a product of our fallen & broken world – with some help from the enemy of our souls. But the question we should be asking is about how we are living, what is happening in our hearts, what are our priorities – we should come to God and ask Him to examine us. What needs to change? What am I guilty of? What has my arrogance, my rushing around, my greed, my lack of compassion – what have they all done? Let’s not point the finger at others in this, let’s fall to our knees and ask God to show us our hearts and lives – and ask Him to change us.
May God bless all of us. Love, Matt Frost