Weekly Prayer Message, Monday, April 13, 2020
God’s View of COVID-19
The news blares on. The virus is peaking. The death toll surges. Medical equipment is sparse. Shutdown. Lockdown. Nobody knows what the future holds. Lots of people stressing. Anxious and fearful. There’s lots of pressure. Including among Christians.
So how do we personally deal with this? Where is God? This isn’t the whole answer but it’s part of it. We must see this pressure from God’s view. A major purpose of pressure in the life of the believer, and God’s primary objective in trials, is for you and I to recognize our limitations, and then to appropriate not only God’s strength, but God Himself. The Lord puts us in a corner, and brings us to an end in ourselves, so we might learn to live in Him.
This is the message of Psalm 91. The promise is glorious, that “those who live in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty, and will say to the Lord, ‘You are my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust.’” (Psalm 91:1-2) This is no small claim. Read the rest of the Psalm to see the trials and pressures the psalmist is facing.
Snares. Pestilence. Terror by night. Arrows whizzing everywhere. Thousands falling. This isn’t the picture of a serene life. And sounds eerily like what we are going through. You will have a difficult time making it through, except for one thing – living in God. Drawing close. Walking with Him. This is what God is after in your life right now. Looking to get your attention, that you would seek God with a whole heart.
Do you love Him? Then here is the greatest news you’ll ever hear: “Because He has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high because he has known My Name.” (91:14)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtugO6WE_o4
The range of Aretha Franklin seems to me not of this world.
Just for a Laugh
One Major Prayer Focus This Week: It seems the virus may have peaked or is about to. There have been no deaths in Laguna Beach. Orange County is weathering this. California officials are starting to sound optimistic. Keep praying, that there might be an accelerated end to this epidemic. Rushing quickly to a conclusion.
A Word for You: “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow. I will not despair’” -anon
Love you all so very much in the Lord.
Pastor Jay