Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash
Scary Times
Since the beginning of 2020 the entire world has had to deal with this pandemic known as Covid19. If you watch the news everyday you would think it is the end of the world as we know it. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying from this virus and a certain amount of fear is to be expected. We live in scary times.
Don’t Let Fear Run Your Life
Luckily we have scripture to help us in times like these.
Psalm 23:4 is a good place to start. While not talking about a virus the verse does tell us that we don’t need to fear because God is with us. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Again coming from the old testament we have Isaiah 41:10 “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Saying not to be afraid because God is with you and will protect you.
What did Jesus say about fear? if you google it you will probably come up with Mark 5:36 mainly the the second half of the verse “Do not fear, only believe.” and that is a great verse but it is very out of context. However, it does kind of work here. Jesus was told of a young girl who had just died when he says, he goes to their house and heals the girl and she gets up from her bed. To be clear I am not saying if you believe that you or your loved ones won’t die if you believe. You should pray and believe but sometimes the answer is just no. That can be hard to understand but we have to know that not everything is for us to understand, some things are only for God.
While that verse is good, I actually prefer Matthew 10:26-33. Basically, we have Jesus saying not to fear bodily death, only death of your soul. That we should shout the things he said from the rooftops and let people know about his gospels.
26“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.h 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.“
Don’t Tempt God
Here is my warning to the limitation of this. You shouldn’t fear things but that doesn’t mean you should tempt fate. In Matthew 4 we have the devil temping Jesus and he says why not just jump from this mountain the angels will surely catch you and Jesus responds with Matthew 4:7 “Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’””
This is to say maybe don’t go to Covid parties. Definitely do not join one of those snake biting churches. Stay safe but not scared. Good luck.