Where is Jesus in the Pandemic?

You guys, I had the worst dream—the whole world was consumed with a viral pandemic. Oh wait, that was not a dream. It’s really happening.

When everything started to shut down and the numbers started to climb, my fear began to grow.  I wondered, “Who of my friends or family will suffer?” The fear that I could be infected and not even know it was unbearable. Could I have given it to that nice old man in the grocery store, or the friends I saw before the stay-home order? Could I be the cause of someone else’s suffering and pain, or even death? As someone who spent many of my younger years haunted by the need to be perfect, the government orders were something I listened to carefully. But this fear went beyond doing my part to help slow the spread. This fear pressed on the wound in my heart that says I am a problem.

Perhaps your worries are a bit different. The economic effects of the pandemic have caused many to worry about how they’re going to pay their rent or mortgage or even buy groceries. It’s really scary to see your bank account balance dwindle down with no end in sight. There are so many of us who have applied for unemployment but have yet to receive any benefits. Who will help us? What will happen to me? When will this end?

Whether you feel like you have too much power or like you are powerless to help yourself, the question is the same: Is Jesus enough? Does he have the power to cover my mistakes? Does he have the power to help me when I can’t help myself?

The pandemic has reminded me of the storm in Mark 4. After Jesus finished teaching the crowds from a boat, he suggested to his disciples to go across the waters to the other side. While they were crossing, “a furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped” (v. 37). Amidst the fury of the storm, Jesus was asleep. Feeling their lives were at stake, the disciples woke Jesus in a panic. They said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (v. 38).

It’s a familiar passage. Still, I think about it and wonder, why was Jesus sleeping? Did he know there was a storm? Was he oblivious to it? Also, their question to him is one I relate to: Does Jesus care?

Eventually, he woke up, calmed the storm and asked his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (v. 40). I wonder, what did he want them to do? If they had much faith, would they have been asleep, too? Would they have waited for him to wake up on his own?

And why were they so afraid? To me it’s apparent—they were about to lose their lives in the storm. The safety of the boat was breaking down. They were on the verge of drowning. I would definitely be scared if I were in a storm and the boat were falling apart. But the disciples had spent a lot of time with Jesus before this storm.  They saw him perform miraculous healings and teach the crowds through parables. Maybe he was asking them, “What did you get from all of our time together? What do you know about me?”

The Good News

God’s Word allows us to know the character of God, and why we can trust him at all times. Here are a few verses that speak to different aspects of his goodness.

He is a promise keeper.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
Numbers 23:19 (NASB)

He is our protector.

For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.
Psalm 61:3 (NIV)

He loves us.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 (NIV)

He is always working.

So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.  In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 
John 5:16-17 (NIV)

In the storm, the disciples may not have gotten things perfect, but Jesus still rescued them. He is gracious and mighty to save. Jesus doesn’t call me a problem, and even if the worst comes true—even if I’m found to be part of the spread of COVID-19—it won’t be the first time I’ve messed up. But each time, Jesus has extended his grace and mercy to me. These are the very things that give me the strength to keep trying to love and honor him. His love changes everything.

Our boat may be falling apart, but Jesus is in it with us, and even the winds and the waves obey him.

I don’t know what the future will look like, but I know the one who does. I cling to the truth of God, especially in these strange times, and I hope you do, too. May these biblical truths of God wash over you, and may you walk today in the confidence of his everlasting love and strength. 

---