“Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; / The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break / In blessings on your head.” (The Lutheran Hymnal, 514, (3)
No one wants to be where we are, keeping distance from people, not doing all the social things we love, routines disrupted, and anxious. What’s to become of me? All those sentiments are felt by followers of Jesus, but look what faith does. “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). Faith is confident that God will bring good from the coronavirus “clouds ye so much dread.”
A co-worker told me that her daughter’s public high school teacher talked about the virus in biology class. As students shared their questions and concerns, the co-worker’s daughter said this crisis should bring us back to God. That is one blessing in these unwelcome times. Scientists and scholars speak of an Ice Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and so on, times when nature influenced human life. Now some social observers say we’re in the “Anthropocene Age,” an era when humans dominate nature. Think back in history to the agricultural revolution, then the industrial revolution, and now the digital revolution. We’ve tamed the wilderness, gone into space, and communicate instantly around the world. And so we are tempted to imagine our mortal powers are greater than they truly are, that we are – though we wouldn’t say it - God. Humanity is amazing, but only because the Creator made us so. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:4). “You have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge” (Isaiah 17:10). Unwelcome as this “cloud” is, God is using it for good to us who love Him. “Whom have I in heaven but you?” (Psalm 73:25).
“Deep in unfathomable mines / Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs / And works His sov’reign will.
“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, / But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence / He hides a smiling face.”
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 514, 2, 4)
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