10. Welcome to day 10 of our 4 week prayer adventure.

“And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace!Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with fear and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’” Mark 4:39-41

Here in this great story, we read of how a storm broke out at sea and while the disciples were panic-stricken and thought they were going to die, Jesus was sound asleep. But when they get Him up, He calmly and quickly solves the problem and points out their problem, which wasn’t primarily the storm, but their own lack of faith in Him. This is a great story for our times. While many sermons could be given on this small passage, permit me to mention one thing.

The disciples had been watching Jesus heal all kinds of diseases and illnesses; there was no illness or problem that got presented to Him that He wasn’t able to handle. Nothing stumped Him. Then, after this incident, the disciples were astounded at His total control even over all of nature; the winds, the waves, the storms! He is not only Lord of all nations, of all peoples, but even over all of creation; which includes storms, diseases, bacteria and yes, even viruses. Jesus is Lord of the coronavirus.

As we watch the news and hear the hard and sad news of people dying, it all appears so random to us. But as we think biblically, as we learn from this story, from God’s perspective there is nothing random about this virus at all. It goes exactly where He wants it to go, it strikes exactly where He wants it to strike. Again, it is not random; it only appears that way to us.

The Bible speaks about how even before we were born God appointed the number of days for each of us. Now this is not a guarantee of a long life, it is a guarantee that you will not live one day less or one day longer than what God had planned for you. He may choose to use the coronavirus to bring you home, or He’s got a million other ways He can use as well.

Nor does this mean then that we can be reckless about our lives. Remember when Jesus was being tempted by the devil and the devil took Him up to the top of the temple and told Jesus, throw yourself down, the angels will catch you. Did Jesus jump off? No. He responded with the Word of God by saying that we should not test the Lord our God. Same with this virus. Wisdom would dictate that we do all in our power to do what we can to protect ourselves and others, (unless you have a very clear call like some missionaries have had, to go ahead and go into what would normally be a very dangerous situation, but those would be the exceptions, not the rule.) So, let’s not test God and live unwisely. A Christian is to live by faith, by grace and common sense.

So, we don’t know what may happen to us tomorrow, but we know who holds tomorrow, as the song goes. And He has plans for us, to give us a future and a hope!