As the world locks down to mitigate and suppress the coronavirus, something in me grows very still. For a while I didn’t know why. But today I think I do. It’s not anxiety about what happens next. It’s not the lack of motivation I feel as isolation grows. It’s not even the struggle to put structures in place that will keep a sense of normalcy alive in my life.
I feel like we are coming in contact with the absolute bigness, the “otherness” of God. The glimpse we get when we imagine Trinity taking nothing and making a whole universe out of it. When in our lifetime has the whole world shut down? When have all the nations worked in concert to fight a common foe? Not really, ever. A number of people have commented they feel like they’re on a movie set. I get it – it does sort of feel that way. Humanity in a battle against disease or aliens or some other enemy way bigger than we are and needing Someone – a miracle really – to come save us.
We are at the mercy of God. Our circumstances let us know this very clearly. And here’s the deal…I can fight circumstances and people to try and get them to be what I need them to be…or I can rest, cease fighting and know that God is God.
Surrender your anxiety!
Be silent and stop your striving and you will see that I am God.
I am the God above all the nations,
and I will be exalted throughout the whole earth.
Here he stands!
The Commander!
The mighty Lord of Angel Armies is on our side!
The God of Jacob fights for us!
–Psalm 46:10-11 (The Passion Translation)
ACTION: Read the Scripture slowly again and pause in the presence of God.
