The coronavirus didn’t sneak up on God. He is not surprised or startled by it, just like he was not surprised or startled by any plague, pandemic, war, or atrocity in the past.

This blog is not about the coronavirus. It’s more about an issue this virus has plunged all of us into in some way: uncertainty.

Of course, we have lived with uncertainty every day of our lives. We don’t ultimately know what the future holds and some don’t have concrete plans for the future. However, we are living in a season where even the simplest things we thought were a given has caused uncertainty.

• When will we be able to attend and fellowship in the church buildings again?
• When can students go back to the physical school building?
• What if I have to go to the hospital, will I get sick?
• When can I go to the mall again?
• What’s going to happen to the economy?
• Will I be able to find cleaning supplies?
• Will I be able to keep my job?
• How long will I have to wear a mask when I leave my home?

 
Everything about our world feels remarkably questionable right now. Systems that previously seemed stable now appear fragile and unsteady. We sit in our homes scrolling social media and watching the updates, but each update only adds to the uncertainty.

There’s uncertainty sometimes swirling in my own heart. I’m processing how to live in such a time as this and exactly what the “new norm” will entail.

I know I’m not alone, though. In the midst of a global pandemic, the entire world is living with some type of uncertainty. But this is what I’ve been deeply convicted of: Christians should live with uncertainty differently. 
 
Instead of fumbling through each day in fear, instead of being immobilized by anxiety, instead of feeling paranoid or panicked, we should cling to the most certain thing in this life: our great God.
 
He is the unchangeable One in a rapidly changing world. No matter what happens with our health, with our jobs, with our families, with our economy, with our supplies, God is reliable, trustworthy, sovereign, and faithful.
 
God has always made it possible for Christians to be faithful through long, difficult seasons of adversity. We are not the first Christians to deal with global uncertainty, and we won’t be the last.
Let’s not be tempted to think we can’t deal with this faithfully. We can!
In the midst of this uncertainty:

• Let’s pray more.
• Let’s read God’s Word more.
• Let’s communicate with each other more.
• Let’s repent.
• Let’s encourage other more.
• Let’s remind ourselves of God’s faithfulness more.
• Let’s be kind to one another.
• Let’s demonstrate God’s love.

 
 
PEARLStoPONDER: In the midst of uncertainty, we need hope. Let’s share our hope in our good and sovereign God with those who may not have hope.
 
Psalm 102:25-27--²⁵ Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.²⁶ They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,²⁷ but you are the same, and your years have no end.

Psalm 115:3--Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Malachi 3:6--“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.