Better Days Are Coming

“Better Days are Coming”

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

Scriptures:- Zephaniah 1:12, Amos 6:1, Psalm 4:6, Deuteronomy 8:2, 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Prayer

Opening:- It’s an understatement to say that we are experiencing a time unlike any other. The Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic has impacted and changed life in unprecedented ways. The way we live, interact with others, do business, work, entertain, and worship has changed and may never be what we once called normal again.

Life seems to have become surreal, which means dream-like. Social distancing of 6 feet apart is the new standard. We have to stand in line wearing a mask just to get into the store. Hospitals unable to handle the influx of coronavirus patients. Deaths overwhelm the morgues and funeral directors are being asked to come from other states to help with the overwhelming crisis. Unemployment is sky-rocketing out of control with over 3 million claims filled in just a weeks time. Toilet paper has become as precious as gold and equally hard to find.

Because the world is confined people are anxious, uneasy, stressed, loosing track of themselves because familiarity is gone. Alcohol consumption is on the rise and domestic abuse is climbing every day. Faith is being tested and tried like never before. Because we are unable to plan for the future, we don’t know what will happen tomorrow needless to say 6 months from now we find ourselves living in an uncertain and seemingly eternal present. Life is complex and we don’t know what to do. If I get a cough or a fever do I go to the doctor or straight to the hospital, do I need to be tested and if so where can I get one at. Life has been interrupted, we are forced to stay home or shelter in place by an unseen deadly enemy.

Question:- Maybe you have heard it or maybe you have even asked it yourself “How could God allow something like the coronavirus to happen”?

Last week I talked about a Dichotomy. A Dichotomy is basically two things that represent opposing each other, for example:- Night & Day, Light & Dark, Flesh & Spirit, Natural & Spiritual, The World & The Church. I stated that when God speaks He speaks to the church and the world at the same time, the message is different but the purpose is the same.

The purpose is 2 fold – a). To get our attention b). To draw us closer to Him. This is both for the World and the Church.

WATCH THIS:- To the world He says, I didn’t come up with this but when I saw it I had to use it. God said I’ve taken everything you worship away. You want to worship athletes – so I closed the stadiums. You want to worship musicians – so I closed the Civic Centers. You want to worship actors so I closed the theaters. You want to worship money so I collapsed the economy and crashed the stock market. You don’t want to go to church so I made it so you can’t go now that you wish you could.

Now that all of that has happened the world is saying Lord Lord have mercy on us. People who never prayed or hardly ever prayed are praying now. I’ve seen commercials on TV that say we need more of God’s love. Pew Research Center, a survey organization, says more than ½ adults, 55% say they have prayed for the end of Covid-19. He is getting their attention and He is drawing them closer to Him.

To the Church He is saying Woe to them that are at ease in Zion. You have become stagnant and have come to His nostrils as a stinking mess. O Zion what’s the matter now, you don’t pray like you use to pray what what’s the matter now. We have allowed church to become complacent and settle for mediocrity turning church into a coffee house social gathering place instead of the church being the light of the world or the change agent to the world.

So He has allowed these things to happen, Deuteronomy 8:2 says “to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no”. Not for Him but for us to get our attention and draw us closer to Him.

God has allowed this pandemic to happen. He has allowed death to run its course. He has allowed fear and panic to grip the hearts of the people. He has allowed shelter in place to happen. He has allowed normalcy to change. He has interrupted life but He says better days are coming. However, before better days can come we must learn yet another dichotomy and that is premise & promise. Everyone wants the promises of God, we want life more abundantly we want it failing to understand or do the premise.