Cathedral St. Petersburg, Russia
Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?
Psalm 130:3 NLT
One thing the coronavirus lockdown has done is to test our ability to spend a lot of time with whoever else lives with us – although, of course, living alone brings with it different challenges. For many people, the rhythms of leaving and returning from work, attending church gatherings (large and small), having personal space, all disappeared.
I reflected on how fortunate we were to have a house with many rooms and a large garden. There were open and enclosed spaces we might occupy together and alone. We were thrown back upon our own resources, individually and as a couple, and these were tested.
We resolved to talk, pray and reflect. Some in the church quickly decided the pandemic was God’s judgement, but is this the character of God? Surely God seeks to woo and win hearts rather than enforce his kingdom.
As mentioned earlier, governments anticipate three pandemics a century. There was the 1918 flu pandemic that killed around 50 million people globally, and infected about 500 million. In 2003 (SARS) and 2009 (swine flu) were global epidemics, but had limited effect upon the developed world.
When Covid-19 struck, governments were unprepared. Health systems, designed to work effectively in normal conditions, were not ready for the numbers of patients arriving in hospital. It was a reminder, if we needed one, that everyday life easily distracts us from our primary calling to pursue God. We become conformed to a world in which God is little more than an option bolted onto a way of life designed for comfort and an illusory self-realisation. But I can never truly be myself until I find who it is God created me to be. God is my home and my identity.
QUESTION
How has your life changed since the pandemic began?
PRAYER
Reveal to me afresh, Lord, who you created me to be.
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