We are thankful for science and for all of those who study the data, to help us define reality so we can be prepared on a natural level for what we are going to face in this present COVID-19 crisis. Facts and predictions can even give us a basis for forming our prayer responses.
The important thing for people of faith, though, is that when we calculate all of the data that we don’t forget to put God in the equation. He is more than the “wild card”. He is the final word in any situation. Henry Blackaby in his book Experiencing God would say, “We don’t know the full truth about any situation until we’ve heard from Jesus.”
We know this is true of our own journeys in life that have been changed by the salvation of God. Many of us would clearly have had data that would suggest that we would grow up to be addicts or to have a dysfunctional family. It would say that economically and in other ways, we would always struggle and fail. Some would have been predicted to be one of the sad statistics that predict prison time, alcoholism, domestic violence and so forth. But I love what Paul says in Ephesians 2:3-5:
“..among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as others. BUT GOD who is rich in mercy, because of his great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”
Don’t you love the God factor! A similar comparison can be made about our circumstances. We are now in circumstances that seem like they could spell doom for millions and financial ruin. But put God in the picture and everything changes. God plus anyone does not equal two, but equals an overwhelming majority. I think of God stepping in. I imagine it like the bottom of the 9th inning and we’re behind 1000 to nothing. But God becomes the team’s designated hitter. The result is a thousand swings later God has put us over the top.
What an amazing thing to realize we can invite God into our equation!
Love,
Dale
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