In Hard Times, God plots for your Victory : Biblical response to COVID 19
Introduction: Hard times are real for everyone regardless of who we are or where we are. Difficult situations are not new to any generation. And hard times can come as a result of our own sin, natural catastrophe, economic disorder or an environmental syndrome. But there is no sure connection between our suffering and God’s displeasure with us.
Psalm 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” The Bible never promises that believers will escape affliction in this life. Acts 14:22 says that, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
But the hard times that we may be experiencing today, is quite unprecedented. But in one way or another it has happened somewhere with someone irrespective of society, in every human generation. You see the book of Eccl.1: 9 says, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
Every difficult time that you will ever encounter in life has been common to man in some capacity if not in its similarity. Some people witnessing the situation around us today are asking…: are these the last days? Is the Rapture going to happen soon? Is Jesus coming back anytime now?
Well let me tell you this: if these are the last days in its precision or even if we have to wait much longer for Jesus to return, we the children of God are still going to be safe in the hands of God - either way! There is nothing that can put us in a serious disposition.
But God speaks to us through His timeless Word about not allowing any hard time to break us down, or to cause us to quit, or give up and lose hope. Instead, God wants us to learn the principles out of that situation that will make us harder than our hard time.
I want to address those principles in this article. In our “Hard times, God plots for our victory".
These are unparalleled times that we live. People are not supposed to leave their country to go to another country; you find businesses shutting down, people are not supposed to gather in more numbers… these can be very
scary and worrisome.
But in the final analysis of our life, all these present events that we are going through can be eventually beneficial.
So this is not the time to loose hope because of the negative circumstances we see around. Don’t abandon your goals because of the disappointments or fear that this pandemic has caused.
May be today it’s the requirement of money, or the lack of emotional and physical support that’s bothering you. But we will never have a good reason to quit upon GOD who is still on the throne and is aware of what is happening.
Whatever we may be lacking today, it’s not new under the sun. It is as old as humanity, as Ecclesiastes says. We must bear this in mind that there is no such thing as a pain-free life; and the earlier we understand that pain is inevitable in this sinful world, the happier we will be. It is impossible to live a painless life in a world that is affected by sin.
We go through all kinds of pain. Dennis Prager talks about four kinds of pain: emotional pain, family pain, financial pain and physical pain. Pain is inevitable in anybody’s life.
Years back, the generation that faced the great depression in 1930s, the generation that faced both the World Wars, the generation that faced the Spanish Flu in 1918 did not expect to see a painless life; but eventually they were a happy generation than compared to the modern generation of today. A pain-free life is an illusion; it could be an Ethiopian dream, but still it is a deceptive delusion.
You see when you expect a painless life, you will be in pain. You must understand that evil is real and operational and so pain is a reality. But listen to what Paul says in 2 Cor.2:14: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” Because of this verse we can declare to ourselves that we are winners over every adversity and over every current suffering!
You see difficult situation can either make us morally weak or it can develop a stronger faith to be thankful, to be joyful, to be humble and know that God is still on the throne working in His wisdom even when he allows pain and suffering and challenges in our lifetime.
Remember that Israel had a tendency to look forward and consider only the negative circumstances. For E.g.: they saw the Red Sea ahead of them and the Egyptians chasing them and they blamed Moses; they saw the giants in Canaan and called themselves grasshoppers. That is a negative tendency to challenges in life.
No matter how big the problems we face today under present situations, GOD is saying to us right now that our problems are going to look like grasshoppers if we have a giant-faith in Him. 1 John 4:4 says, “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
If you are facing a hard time right now, and you have done all that you are supposed to do, don’t lose confidence and consider negative circumstances. Because God says in Ps 91:14, “Because he loves me, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.” (Ps 91:14)
Stay holy, study the Bible and GOD will vindicate you and will without fail turn your difficult situation around - to favour you. Romans 8:28, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”
As a born again child of GOD, stay in God’s purpose for your life and you will defeat every negative circumstance that will ever come your way. Don’t give up! Do what Abraham did when all natural hope failed him to have children as God had promised him. Romans 4:19-21, “Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead- Yet he did not waver regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God- being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”
Abraham ignored the negative circumstances and simply held on to what GOD promised him, knowing that God is able to fulfil His promises. Abraham trusted God and His Word and defeated the hard times of barrenness.
So ‘how can we get rid of our hard times and live a normal life?’ - the Bible is the manual that GOD has given to help us know how to approach and relate with Him, and solve our problems. Our situation may be very hard, but it is not impossible to fix. Luke 1:37 says, “For nothing is impossible with God.”
In other words, your hard times are not impossible for GOD to handle or turn around. Believe this! This is the first step to defeat your hard times.
It’s only the devil who will tell us that our situation is beyond repair. It is a lie! Either way if these are the last days in its precision or if we have to wait much longer for Jesus to return, we are still going to be in safe hands! Psalm 91:1 says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” No problem of life is stronger than God’s solution. No hard time is higher than God’s comfort. No challenge is superior to God’s deliverance. Our God is the Most High God!
You see when two opposing powers meet; the lesser power must bow down to the higher – sooner or later. (Philippians 2:9f).
Your hard times are not new or strange. Even the disciples of Jesus also had similar hard times as we have. But its amazing that JESUS did not give them material hope but He said to them, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Mt. 6:33) What he meant to say is, “Realign your priorities even during hard times; and everything else in your life will start working normally. That’s the second step.
Conclusion:
The Psalmist says in 57:1 = “Be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge.” We have to esteem God’s protection as being superior to any other protection. And when we do this God will honor our faith and He will be merciful. Plead for God’s value as the source of your only hope. And then we will see His unwavering commitment to his own glory by engaging His heart for our protection and joy.
In Psalm 143:11 we read, “For your namesake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.”
Pardon and blessing come to those who look away from their own value to the value of God’s name. It is God’s righteousness to stand by His name. So when we come to Him pleading the worth of his name, he helps us; its good to call out to him in this way: “For your namesake oh Lord – pardon me, protect me, preserve me, bless me, use me, anoint me, give me peace…”
We would be wasting our time in trying to do or think something else during these days. Mary gave a simple instruction to those servants at the Wedding at Cana, she said to them “whatever HE tells you to do, do it!” (John 2:5). This is the master key to succeed even when we face hard times.
And God encourages us: “Don’t give up.” To give up and to quit is not who you are meant to be as a child of God. Proverbs 12:13, “The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.”
In hard times, God plots for your victory and you will reveal His grace. So,
1. Believe that your hard times are not impossible for God to handle.
2. Realign your priorities even during hard times.
3. It is God’s righteousness to stand by His name. So call out to him and His name.
Take courage, you were born to live with God forever.
