God is the God who stays.

The issue is not the pandemic, but the fear of the pandemic. Such, God will deliver us from as much as he delivered Christ from the fear of the suffering that came with the cross. As much as I would love to tell my loved ones and friends that God will protect them from Covid-19, I got no such word from God. What I got from God through Christ is, “do not fear, do not worry…”. It can be so misleading and confusing at times for believers to hear that God will protect them from a particular disease but then later find themselves infected with such disease.

The reality is that God will always protect us from the fear of such disease, whether we catch it or not. Because whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Fear will come as it did in Christ’s case, but will soon be on its way out as it did in Christ’s case. Fear comes and leaves. But God is the God who stays, Emmanuel, God with man.

Pandemic comes and goes. God is the God who came, has been and will be with mankind from eternity to eternity. We’re not in this alone. We cannot be in this alone. We were never created to be in this alone.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Where can COVID-19 bring us to be hidden away from God?

“O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” (Psalm 139:1-18)

“If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” (Romans 14:8)

Transition from fear to the assurance of God’s love.

“so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” (1 John 4:16)

Love never fails. Fear flees. But love never fails.

Reach out to your friends and families, neighbors and strangers, and let them know that we’re in this together and that God is not one to flee or stay away from us. Do FaceTime more than ever.

God is the God who stays: https://youtu.be/KHMVSdIjBcg