I have a plaque on the wall over my desk that says “Live by faith, not by sight”. (taken from 2 Corinthians 5:7) But, just how do we live by faith in these times of great uncertainty? The Coronavirus has pealed back the false layer of security that most of us live under. This leads many to fear, stress, panic, and very real worry about their own health and that of those they love. We also worry about lost jobs, food supplies, children at home, retirement accounts, and on and on… And what’s scary to most of us is the realization that we were never in control of our lives like we thought we were! James 4:13-15 bring us down to that reality:

¹³  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” – James 4:13-15 (ESV)

Most of you know of CJ’s and my struggle with cancer this past year. It is a simple illustration of uncertainty that we all experience in life when the unexpected hits us right between the eyes. A little over a year ago, we got a totally unexpected call that CJ has stage 4 metastatic cancer. After 10 chemo treatments and a long surgery, we returned from Florida in February with the hope that it was mostly gone and could be controlled. We were again rattled to hear that it had returned, and is still growing, and if we can’t find something to stop it she may have months and not years to live. Wow, talk about bringing fear and uncertainty back into your life! So, we continue to pray and seek God’s word to us. The REALITY of the situation with cancer, and with the Coronavirus, is that we just DON’T KNOW! I don’t know if God will give CJ years to live or just months, and I have no control over that. None of us can see the virus, we don’t know if we have it or will get it, or whether we will live or die if we do contact it. We’re all in the same boat; some will live in panic and fear, many will blame others, and the wise ones will turn to faith!

SO, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FACE UNCERTAINTY IN ALL OF LIFE WITHOUT GIVING IN TO FEAR, PANIC, AND DESPAIR?

 I have a few  thoughts that I would like to share with you that have been playing in my mind for this past year:

1) We ALL try to live by faith, even if you don’t consider yourself a Christian or even “religious”!

The biblical definition of faith is:  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)  Faith begins with the understanding that we just don’t know, and can’t see everything in life (and can’t control it), but we can reasonably believe in a more hopeful future because of evidence and what we have experienced in life so far!

Take the coronavirus: we can all be afraid, even terrified, because we can’t see the virus, but know it can possibly kill us. But, by “faith”, we can all see a very likely brighter future. Our faith can be in doctors and researchers who studied similar viruses for years. Their mitigation strategy has been quite effective.  Even their worst projections indicate that less than 1% of our total population will die of this. And, we can have very reasonable hope that they will come up with effective treatments very soon and probably have an effective vaccine in a year or less. So, even though we don’t “know” for sure, a reasonable faith can give us hope and take away our fear and despair!

In the same way, we Christians put our faith in God, whom we believe is much more reliable than any doctor or politician or pundit! Why?… because we know that millions of people have experienced God’s presence and intervention in their lives for 1,000’s of years, often in supernatural ways. More importantly, the cornerstone of our faith is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, which we celebrated just over a week ago. Although we can’t “prove” that Jesus was resurrected, the forensic evidence is overwhelming for not only the possibility, but the probability, of his resurrection! Over 500 real people saw him resurrected. Don’t we wish there were cell phones back then and somebody took a “selfie” with Jesus after his resurrection? So our faith is far from “wishful thinking” or a “fairy tale”, it is based on the testimony of real people who suffered and gave their lives based on what they saw and believed. We can also trust the Bible as God’s word to us, revealing his desire to help us and redeem us from our sin. I love the Bible primarily because there are no “super-heroes” in it, other than God! The most faithful and famous in the Bible are fallible, sinful human beings who failed often and came to realize that they ultimately had no real control over their lives, and humbly cried out to God to save them. And he did, time and time again! So today, as we find ourselves feeling out of control, uncertain, and fearful, we can trust, or have faith, in God and his amazing promises, leading us to “be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”!

2) As humans, God calls us to trust and respect our leaders and experts, even though they all have limited knowledge and understanding. But beyond that, God invites us to trust him, because he alone is God and knows the future and has power over everything!

As humans, we face a unique dilemma: we were the only aspect of creation made in the image of God! That means that we, above every creature, have unique intellectual, emotional, and moral qualities that are amazing. But because we all now have a sinful nature, those qualities are messed up and out of touch with God’s will. So even the best of our leaders, doctors, and experts in any field are limited in what they can see, know, and understand.

So, let’s give each other a break! I’ve been in leadership all my life, and I know most leadership decisions are a lot more complex and less “black and white” than others realize. It’s easy to armchair quarterback and blame others from the sidelines. Maybe one leader or doctor may do better than another. But all of us are biased, limited in knowledge, and will never make the perfect decisions every time. And, as wonderful and heroic as our medical people are in this present crisis, no doctor or researcher has the ability to ultimately “save your life”. They may help your body to survive a few more years, but they are just delaying the inevitable: we are all going to die physically, and no human can stop that.

All of this division, hatred, violence, vile name calling, blame, fear, mistrust, confusion, and despair we see today is NOT from God! We were originally created to live with God, on the earth, and to love Him and each other. That means God intended us to respect, love, trust, build each other up, and bring out the best in each other. But sin has screwed us up so badly that now we settle for just eating each other alive.

That’s why our faith needs to rest in God and not each other!

God is God, and we are not, and that’s the best news we can hear today! God lives beyond our limit of time: he see the past, present, and future, and he is ultimately in complete control of it all. The Coronavirus is no surprise to him, it is merely a blip on his view of eternity. It doesn’t change his plan at all, and is causes him no worry! Even though this is a byproduct of evil, God will use it for good and offer us hope to get through it.

Jesus said, ^“ The thief  ((Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance.” – John 10:10 (NIV)  Because we live under the cloud of sin and Satan’s influence, we allow him to lead us down the path of destruction of our souls, our lives, and our world. But Jesus came to reverse that path of evil, and restore us to what we were originally created to be! He wants us to have new life, the Kingdom life, that will last forever!  So, by having faith in God and knowing he raised his son Jesus from death, we can now have hope and even peace as we face the worst that life throws at us!

3) So, how might Jesus be calling us to live today? For me at least, this last year has shown me the need to repent, be humble, and trust Jesus one day at a time!

Repent- I am reminded through this that I’m still a sinner and need to repent of my times of unbelief and lack of trust in God’s goodness and provision for my life. I also need to repent of my attitude and judgement toward others that I disagree with, and not get caught up in the game of blame and destructive words towards others.

Be humble- This last year has clearly shown me how little power and control I actually have over the events of my life, and has led me to humbly trust in God more than ever in my prayer and thought life. I gladly trust Jesus with CJ’s life, and my own, knowing that he is the only one who has the power to give us abundant life now and forever!

Live one day at a time- Many years ago Pastor Lloyd Ogilvie wrote that he learned to live in “day-tight compartments” during a very difficult year in his life. Even though the circumstances were difficult, he found that living only one day at a time, looking for God’s goodness and presence that day, made the year much more rewarding and enjoyable. In reflection, all of us only have today! We have no promise of tomorrow, and we can’t change the past, so excessive worry or regret can just paralyze us and steal the joy God has for today. Jesus said as much:

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)
²⁵  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? ²⁶  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸  “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

As we live together in this rare time of fear and uncertainty for so many, let us remember to :

– put our ultimate trust (faith) in God

– pray for all those on the “front lines” of service and risk

– pray for all those suffering from sickness and their families, that they will experience God’s comfort and hope in the midst of suffering

– pray that our attitudes towards others will be the same as that of Jesus

– thank God for each day and enjoy his goodness today, focusing on God and resting in his power and promise for a new life forever in his presence!

So do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  – Isaiah 41:10