Making Biblical Sense of the Pandemic
How do we think about pandemics as people who believe the Bible?
This is one of those historic moments — a global pandemic where everyone is stuck in their homes, where death counts rise around the world, and where economic pain is hitting a lot of people — where people have a lot of spiritual questions. In March, Google searches for “prayer” skyrocketed. Anecdotally, many pastors are reporting bigger audiences online than they might have on a Sunday morning. America seems to be turning the corner with coronavirus, but for several months, there has been fear and uncertainty all around us.
It’s not quite the same as the time after 9/11, but there are some parallels in terms of the spiritual questions people have. How do we think about pandemics as people who believe the Bible, trust in the goodness of God, and rest in the sufficiency of Christ?
First, we have to acknowledge that this moment has laid bare our vulnerability. Most of us are self-assured, self-made, achievers with busy lives. Heading into this time, many of us complained about how we have no margin. Books helping people organize their lives and find ways to Sabbath and rest were flying off the shelves. And yet isn’t it instructive how an unseen virus has radically reordered life and made us more dependent and less self-assured? Perhaps we are not as strong as we think we are.
Second, we should avoid making specific conclusions from Scripture about current events. It would be easy to figure out some way that COVID-19 fits into Scripture, especially end-times scenarios. But we should be careful about this. Jesus would tell us in Mark 13 that upheaval, wars, and natural phenomena are not a sign that the end is near necessarily but the beginning of “birth pangs.” In other words, Jesus is telling us that the entire age—2,000 years of church history—is the last days and thus we can expect cycles of evil and suffering and pain in a fallen world. Good Christians have always disagreed on how exactly to interpret the specific details of future events. But what we can say, with confidence, is that this global pandemic can point us toward the hope and good news that Jesus is coming back again.
Third, we should be careful about saying the coronavirus or any other natural disaster is “God’s judgment on America” or any other nation. God has judged nations for specific sins—read the OT prophets—but he is always specific in those pronouncements. We are not prophets or Apostles so we don’t have insider knowledge on who or what God is judging. We don’t want to be guilty of asking the question the disciples asked, when seeing a lame man whom Jesus would later heal, “What did this man or his parents to to deserve this?” (John 9). Jesus rebuked this question.
A better way to think a global pandemic is that in a fallen world, shot through with sin, “rain falls on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45).” What we do know is that entire cosmos is under the curse of sin collectively. Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden not only meant that individual human beings are born into sin and therefore produce evil, but that the entire universe is corrupted. It just doesn’t work as it should. There is a bug in the system. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 8 that all of creation “groans and travails” for redemption. In other words, it’s not just human hearts longing for renewal and restoration, it’s the creation itself. The Bible teaches the good news that Jesus, life, death, and resurrection defeated that curse, pushed back the advance of the enemy, and has defeated sin, death and the grave. We just celebrated Easter, which celebrates Jesus’ empty tomb as a sign of that restoration. The cosmos will one day be redeemed, restored to God’s original, life-giving purposes. There will be a day without a coronavirus pandemic, without job losses, without painful separations and corrupted leadership in high places. The message of Christianity is that there is a new world coming.
So no, we can’t say that this pandemic is “God judging the world.” But what we can do is allow this season to give us opportunity to examine our hearts. We can ask, “God what are you teaching me in this moment? What is my life about? What commitments should I renew?” And then we can look around and ask ourselves whom God wants us to love.
It is often times of hardship and suffering and difficulty that bring people to a place of seeking out God. I do believe that out of this season we will see this. I like what Tim Keller says:
The real question is not, “Is this God’s judgment?” But rather, “Is God to whom I look to and trust in when bad things happen?”
So to the broader question, why? We don’t have specific answers and shouldn’t always try to summon them, but one thing we do have is a sure hope. And we have the cross of Jesus as proof that God understands human suffering.
Some suggested reading on this:
Where is God When It Hurts? – Phillip Yancey
God and Coronavirus – John Piper
God in a Coronavirus World – John Lennox
God and the Pandemic – N.T. Wright
Interesting Links
Brett McCracken writes for TGC that we shouldn’t let coronavirus divide the church. What a sobering and personally convicting word. I hope as we open up, we don’t let our differing comfort levels keep us from loving each other well.
How about this? A 91-year old senior saint writes on loneliness and fear and faith in the midst of the pandemic.
My friend Trillia Newbell with a sobering word of lament in World in the awful injustice of Ahmaud Arbery.
Okay, here is another Michael Jordan related piece. With the immensely satisfying Last Dance documentary over (could they not commission ten more episodes?), it’s interesting to speculate what would have happened if Jordan didn’t retire and play baseball. Brandon Anderson writes an alternative history that you really should read.
What I’m Reading
Reading in this time has slowed dramatically for me and I don’t like it. Part of it is that I’ve filled much of that time with family time and I’m working on several projects that are taking up most of my time.
I’m enjoying The President's Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America's Presidents from Kennedy to Obama, a fascinating history of the intelligence documents that modern U.S. Presidents receive.
I’m also loving Rebel in the Ranks, Martin Luther, The Reformation, and the Conflicts that Continue to Shape Our World.
Personal Projects
I recently recorded four new episodes of my special audio series, “Christians in a Time of Coronavirus.” You can listen here.
My new website will be launched very soon. Stay tuned for a completely redesigned DanielDarling.com.
Pre-orders will be available soon for my new book, Way With Words, which releases in August.
This Week on The Way Home Podcast
The decline of church attendance is well documented. What happened? David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group, joins me to talk about Barna’s 2020 research on the State of the Church. Barna has committed this next year to empowering the Church with the insights and resources they need to reach the unchurched in their communities.
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