Show me your ways, O Lord; Teach me your paths.
(Psalm 25:4, NKJV)
Looking back, it seems like a dream, or perhaps a nightmare. For eight consecutive Sunday mornings in the Spring of 2020, our church family did not personally congregate out of a desire to cooperate with public health guidelines, reduce the spread of the pandemic, and “flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 outbreak. Such a suspension of onsite worship was unprecedented in the history of our congregation. It was surreal.
The second verse of the Bible plants two cogent seeds in the fertile soil of creation’s mystery. First is the notion that existence was not quite in order yet, nebulous and murky, unformed and imprecise, dark and cloudy. Second is the antithetical notion that God’s Holy Spirit was moving, floating, soaring over everything and bringing definition, clarity, brightness, and certainty.
Throughout scripture, Jesus revealed masculine traits like boldness, courage, strength, and initiative. Yet toward the end of his earthly ministry, after pronouncing seven woes upon the religious leaders, Jesus described His love for the children of Israel as that of a mother hen. He wanted them all in the nest—together, sheltered, protected, nurtured, and safe. How striking of Jesus to evoke a maternal image!
In the Christmas comedy Elf, Will Ferrell’s character, Buddy, passes a restaurant advertising the “world’s best cup of coffee.” In his naïveté, Buddy assumes that they have truly earned the best coffee award and offers them effusive praise for a job well done! Imagine being of such good cheer simply because you found the world’s greatest coffee! We who have found faith in Christ have even more reason to be cheerful!
Paul said the Philippians were to be single-minded in striving for the gospel. Sadly, on earth, we are often distracted from spiritual striving and focus on physical striving. Many strive endlessly for that mansion, that lofty position, that perfect body, and that life filled with pleasure, when Jesus promises that one day He will build us in heaven a mansion on streets of gold, give us a position reigning with Him, grant us a new and perfect body that will never decay, and place us in an environment of unspeakable pleasure and delight.
The Bible teaches when we don’t know what to do, we are to ask Jesus. He knows the way and will show us. On a practical, human level, if we have questions about our health, we should ask our doctor. In my town, we have entered a phase of the pandemic in which the impact of the disease has peaked just as the rules and precautions have all been relaxed.