2020 - Unsettling Times

The Corona virus, Covid 19, is certainly wreaking havoc all around the world. It is an unprecedented time in our world's history. Fear and anxiety abound in all countries. The financial markets have gone into free fall. Millions of people have either lost their jobs or been stood down. National governments are injecting huge amounts of money into their struggling economies to try and stem the economic disaster.

Many countries are either in a state of lockdown or very close to it. People are perplexed and very anxious as to their future and their families' future. The whole world has suddenly shifted into an awful, horrific paradigm. Social distancing, staying at home, frequent hand washing, the wearing of face masks and gloves is becoming normal practice. Countries have closed their borders to overseas travellers and interstate travel has been severely restricted. Enforced 14 days isolation is now mandatory in Australia if you have come from overseas or crossing State borders. This is now a legal requirement in Australia with hefty fines or even jail time for non compliance.

Supermarket shelves are missing many essential items such as toilet paper, tissues, rice, pasta and pasta sauce. Face masks and hand sanitisers are in very short supply. This situation in Australia has been caused by panic buying in the shops. Greedy customers buying much more than they required. Limits are now being enforced on many items of essential goods.

So as Christians who believe in the true and living God, we have the Holy Scriptures for our guidance and encouragement. I have always been encouraged by the words of King David in Psalms 37.

Psalms 37:23-25
 (23) "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.
(24) Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand.
(25) I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread."

David wrote these words in his old age; he was looking back at his journey through life and came to the conclusion that those who trust in the true and living God will be looked after by Him. In the circumstances of life David had not seen followers of God forsaken by Him or their children having to beg for food to stay alive.

Let's look at Philippians 4:19 "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Note the confidence of the apostle Paul as he wrote these words to the believers in Philippi. Now the promise is to supply our need not our wants! We all have wish lists and things that we would like to have, but these things our not necessarily our needs but our wants. Our basic needs as humans are - food - clothing - shelter. Our God will supply our present need through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now let's take a look at Hebrews 13:5-6
(5) "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
(6) So we may boldly say:"The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

Our manner of life is brought into focus in verse 5. We are not to be greedy and wanting to have other people's possessions. We are exhorted to be content with what we already have. The reason for the writer saying this is that God Himself has stated "I will never leave you nor forsake you." A very wise ministering brother in Christ used to say "Turn the words around to get the full force of their meaning." So let's do that. "You forsake - nor you leave - never will I"

If we are armed with that assurance then we can bring verse 6 into context. We can be bold and say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

In Philippians 4:6 we find these words (6)" Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
(7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

The word nothing is actually composed of two words no - thing. So we are to be anxious for no thing. What we need to remember is that whatever happens to us our God already knows about. He is the eternal God! Everything that occurs in our life's journey God knows about. He knows our life from the beginning to the end. So whatever happens to us does not catch God by surprise.

This Covid 19 pandemic was prophesied by the Lord Jesus Christ about 2000 years ago. In Matthew chapter 24 He spoke to His disciples about events that would occur in future years.

Matthew 24:6-8
"(6) And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
(7) For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
(8) All these are the beginning of sorrows."

Covid 19 is a pestilence. Collins Concise Dictionary defines pestilence as "any epidemic of a deadly infectious disease, such as the plague." The 20th century was characterised by two world wars and wars between nations. Famines in 3rd world countries are not unknown. Earthquakes seem to be on the increase. Every year now seems to be characterised by earthquakes in various countries. Verse 8 clearly states that these are the beginning of sorrows. There is more sorrow to come upon our world.

Present times are tough in all countries. We are all called upon to do our bit and help stop the spread of the virus. There are millions of people who are fearful and anxious particularly with the loss of jobs and income. On top of that is the concern that they might come down with Covid 19. The death toll around the world rises every day. The amount of people around the world infected with the virus rises every day. So they have genuine concerns as to what will happen to them and their families.

How can believers in the Lord Jesus Christ help? We can pray for people and nations. We can offer comfort and practical help where possible. We can point people to the Lord Jesus Christ for His salvation, comfort and peace. We can help by doing what our National governments request and obey their emergency measures to restrict the virus. We all have to do our bit to help resolve this crisis.

There will come a time when this pandemic will cease. In the meantime we need to keep looking up and keep going on in faith. The apostle Paul in his 2nd letter to the Corinthian believers had the right perspective on our problems and troubles.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18
(17)"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
(18) while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Paul looked beyond the present trials and weighed them up in the light of eternity. And so can you and I.

Jon Peasey

Biblical Perspectives blog www.jon-peasey.blogspot.com
Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey

[All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version; unless otherwise noted. Words enclosed in [ ] are inserted for clarity. Words in bold type emphasise a point. You may notice some verses are quoted with ... at the beginning, ending or elsewhere in a verse. Only the relevant part or parts of the verse, that relate directly to the current subject matter is quoted.]

[If you have any questions or comments you are invited to contact me via the comments section below.]