What invader can overcome and overwhelm the largest, the strongest and most efficient armies of the world?
What terrorist can bring the entire world to a screeching halt, disrupting just about every segment of society?
What invader can cripple the economy of not just one nation, but all of the most affluent and best structured economies?
A virus, one of the smallest entities in the world. One metaphor compared it this way: that if a cell was a baseball stadium, a virus is the size of the ball. That’s pretty small!
Guns cannot subdue it! Bombs will not silence it!
Turning on the morning news on the TV, it seemed as if the only news that they could focus on was this virus that had invaded our country and was terrorizing all, rich, poor, educated, non-educated, young but especially the old and those most vulnerable. How could this small, invisible to the naked eye, terrorist create so much chaos?
Schools have closed, Churches have closed, bars and restaurants have been ordered to be closed. Sports events have been cancelled and even presidential primary elections have been postponed. The economy appears to be experiencing a major fallout and people struggle with what to do and where to go for help. They are told, please don’t go to the emergency rooms, don’t go to the hospital unless you are really sick, how sick is really sick? Anxiety and loneliness runs rampant as everyone is being told to stay home, stay put, don’t go outside - the terrorist might be lurking around the next corner.
How could this country have so quickly succumbed to the ravages of this unwelcome invader?
How do you fight this kind of enemy. Guns won’t work, negotiations are futile. What do you do and now what?
As we contemplate the collapse of so much that we thought was secure, we can find comfort in only one place and that is in Jesus. Psalms 91 explains the only strategy for surviving this war with the Corona virus.
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Yes, we are attempting to manage the spread of this virus, we are increasing the number of people being tested, but there is still no cure for this disease, there is still no way to outwit or kill it. Apart from God all we can say is “Uncle “ and give in to allow it to either cause death or a slow recovery.
God has promised to protect and sustain those who choose to trust in Him.
You get to choose, will you succumb to this terrorist or will you surrender to the only everlasting arms that truly knows how to see you through this crisis?