When did the coronavirus pandemic become real for you? Perhaps it was when schools closed, someone you knew contracted the virus, when you couldn’t visit your grandma at the care facility, when you canceled a spring break trip, or the church buildings became empty on Sunday. Or maybe the news of the soaring death tolls sounded the alarm.
For me and my husband, it was the weekend of March 14-15. The weekend news was painting a grim picture and the invisible enemy invading our country suddenly became widespread and very real.
On that weekend, my husband, Dean, and I made the decision that I would ask to work from home. With Dean’s compromised immune system, I couldn’t risk bringing the virus home from the outside. He is currently unemployed and able to stay home and our adult sons had their own homes, so isolation for both of us would be a stop-gap measure to secure safety.
On Monday, March 16, I went to work armed and ready to make my case for working from home. We practiced social distancing at our weekly 8:00 AM team meeting only to learn before noon that we were all being sent home to work remotely.
Reality was setting in and seeking safety became a dominant thought for Americans. What places were safe and what places weren’t? Who was safe to be around? How best could we protect ourselves from the virus?
Our safety seemed to depend upon all the new terms we were learning like PPE, social distancing, asymptomatic, epidemiology, pandemic, community spread, contact tracing, flattening the curve, herd immunity, and mitigation. Throw in a geography lesson as Wuhan, China was thought to be the global source of the evil coronavirus. During this pandemic, each day has been undefined and the information overload has been time consuming and heavy.
As Christians, we had to turn our minds to the safety the Lord promises.
He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day; of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. For you have made the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.
Psalm 91:4-10 (NASB)
In the midst of the chaos, God in His mercy reminds us that our safety comes from Him and Him alone. It is vital for the thoughts of Christians to turn to God and the safety and security He can bring.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone,
Psalm 4:8 (NASB)
O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.
Although as Christians we are to find our ultimate safety in the Lord, we also have a responsibility to provide earthly safety for ourselves and our loved ones. For example, a respite for my husband and me these past two months has been traveling to a farm and cabin we have access to in southern Iowa.
The cabin is about as far away as you can get from the coronavirus! It’s positioned in the middle of nowhere with the nearest house over two miles away. The gate to enter the farm is situated on a dead-end gravel road marking the county line between Decatur and Ringgold counties, counties that have no Covid-19 cases. The cabin is virus free as no one has stayed at the cabin all winter long. Earthly safety defined…a place of beauty, peace, and refuge. However, the protection it provides pales in comparison to the safety our Lord provides.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
Psalm 118:8 (NASB)
Than to trust in man.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
Proverbs 18:10
the righteous runs into it and is safe.
Where is your place of safety? Remember…real safety cannot be obtained through your bank account, geographic location, your job, the shelter of a home, a cabin in the middle of nowhere, or even in the arms of a loved one. The world can offer safe remedies to the threats of the day, but our real and eternal safety is in the refuge and strength of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our true safety can be found only in a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you don’t know Jesus personally, this pandemic would be the perfect time to believe in Him and receive His eternal safety. Repent of your sins, believe in His finished work on the cross, and accept Him as your personal Lord and Savior and you will be eternally saved.
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may
Acts 3:19 (NASB)
be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”
Romans 10:9 (NASB)
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,
2 Corinthians 5:21(NASB)
so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
…and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
1 Peter 2: 24 (NASB)