During the coronavirus I am amazed at the number of people, especially "evangelicals", who believe that God is punishing us. I estimate that fully 50%, maybe more, of evangelicals believe that with Covid 19 God is sending us a message, a warning. The reasons that I see most often for God's wrath are homosexuality and abortion. In other words, the basic personality of God is anger and judgement. It seems to me that the assumption here is that God actually enjoys raining fire and brimstone down on his people. I see this reaction in storms as well. The assumption is that God is actually personally involved in who is and is not killed or affected by the storm. Furthermore, Christians comment on the "miracle" that happens when the family at 101 Pine Street is spared, but then the family at 106 Pine Street are all killed. If God spared one family, doesn't it stand to reason that God destroyed the other one? Can we assign the "miracle" from God to one circumstance and absolve Him of blame in the other?
In our local paper there is a Sunday page called Faith and Family. In today's paper there is a commentary by Dr. William F. Holland, Jr. that speaks to this dichotomy.Instead of suggesting that God is punishing us with Covid 19 he says this, "God wants you to know that He loves you very much. He knows your thoughts and what you are going through, and He understands everything". He goes on to say, "Remember, no matter what there is no need to fear for Jesus will always be with you." Isn't this a better opinion of God's involvement with the virus instead of punishment?
In her autobiography, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom talks about the lice and fleas in the beds of their barracks. Instead of seeing it as a plague or warning from God, Corrie's sister Betsie realized that because of the fleas, the guards left them alone and never entered their sleeping quarters. Instead of God's wrath they chose to see God's deliverance because of the torment. They both learned to thank God for the fleas. If you find hope and comfort in the wrath of God, then knock yourself out! For me, I believe that God knows our suffering and actually enters it with us. "Be still and know that I am God." And that's a good thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment