The new year was greeted with fanfare worldwide. Everyone had hope for a better tomorrow despite the disappointment of the previous year. Church services were jammed with worshippers offering prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord. During that period it is quite normal for churches worldwide to have high hopes concerning our rapture happening the return of our Lord to rule and reign on the earth. After all, this is one of the requests we are encouraged to offer in our daily prayer.
Afterward, the churches are engaged in filling up their calendar for the year 2020. With very high expectations of having a sort of revival and refreshing times. Then the Church leaders set the ball rolling with plans for the year, of bookings, printed flyers, and invitations, new sermon series, conferences, retreats, and the programs for outreaches all sent out. Suddenly all that changed with the sudden outbreak of the pandemic crisis. The church woke up with a rude awakening and a taste of sour grape having no choice but either to make a partial or total cancellation of all programs. The crisis became the reset button telling the church to start all over. How did it all happen?
This is what can be called a forced change, enforced without expectation and invitation. And human wisdom teaches us that the human spirit will always resist any unexpected change which does not agree with her fanciful expectation in life. So people are always overwhelmed when unanticipated changes occur especially when they distort the plans envisaged in life. Especially when they are not in line with our human anticipation.
However, in most cases, mankind is more dependent upon the predictability of human activities, the consistency of all things, including life events. Mankind is accustomed to believing that since creation all things just must continue as they are. So in the event of any unplanned change, human prefers the status quo. And in most cases always put up a violent fight, while resisting and opposing any changes. And this is the essence of our own self-preservation. But God can use any crisis to bring about His goodness and mercy to an individual or a nation.
And as humans, we are accustomed to believing that unplanned changes are not our friend because they tend to threaten and upset the balance of our nature and livelihood. But what looks like unplanned changes to us is God’s plan according to His purpose. The plans of the Lord always carries with her a vehicular seed to move us to a new level. God allows changes when it is His purpose to take us to Mount Pisgah so that we can see the Promised Land. He says I know my plans for you are good, to bring you to an expected, or a successful end.
Hence the Lord gave us the Bible as our guide and light to lead us in a dark world. Through the writings of the scripture, we are assured of the future and believe that God is sovereign over the affairs of men. The same truth of His sovereignty He had revealed to Daniel with his friends facing a difficult situation in the world capital of that time called Babylon. Babylon was the strongest nation and the capital of the then world. At that time there was a spiritual and moral crisis so intense that death was a choice to escape the horrors of that time.
Our sovereign God did not insulate Daniel and his three friends from the crisis at that time. So also the church today is not insulated from the consequences of the unplanned changes the present crisis has in its wings. For this reason, she must relearn the lesson of God's sovereignty over the affairs of man. As the church is not an organization, but a body, a living organism with spiritual life.
And if the Head had passed through a form of crisis in the past, it follows then that the body must experience some of the sufferings to a lesser degree. For history has confirmed that crisis and hardship is the most effective path towards spiritual awakening. The hall of fame in our faith register is founded on the crucible of suffering, afflictions, and persecution. This is the most fertile soil for the revival awakening of the church.
Hence, the church can draw lessons from the biblical experience of the past to live in the present. That is why the writings of the Old Testament prophets are for our instruction in navigating difficult situations and that includes the crisis of the Coronavirus outbreak. Not that the Lord allowed the crisis to rattle the church, but that the church should put her house in order.
In the Old Testament book of Amos chapter 3, and verse 6-7 reveals that our God is sovereign over all that happens on the earth, whether it be good or evil. That is why I believe that God allowed, ordained that it should happen, including every single change and the effect expected.
Therefore, whatsoever is seen today is because the invisible God allowed it. His authority is undisputed and His permission is unhindered. Hence, nothing in our world can come to pass without His sign and seal. And without His permission, all the plans of man and all the enemies of God shall end up in vain.
According to the Book of Romans chapter 8, verse 28, we also know and believe that God is working all things together according to His purpose and His perfect will. The same truth is confirmed in the book of Ephesians chapter 1, and verses 11. And that by reason of His sovereignty He will work all things together both bad and well for the good of the Church in the latter days. And the crisis of the coronavirus is just one of them.
And we also subscribe to the truth that all things shall work out for the glory of God. But most of all, that God shall be glorified through the crisis of the outbreak of the Coronavirus. That all things answer back to the grace and the goodness of God. Whatsoever it is, God shall be glorified.
Therefore it is appropriate for us to build on the omniscience knowledge of the Lord who knows all things. On that basis, He knows what is going on with the pandemic, and what He is going to do. We can, therefore, rest on His omniscience knowledge and have joy in the midst of this pandemic.
The Lord and His Spirit is with us and shall be with us until the very end. Hence in this bleak moment caused by the crisis, many believers are coming back to the Bible. So many are on their knees in prayers and interceding for the church and the world. While others are broken, seeking their need from the comfort and patience of the Holy Spirit.
But in general, most believers desire the church to continue as before the crisis. Some believe that things will remain the same until the Lord Jesus comes to receive His church. So to those believers' changes is not a friendly word. In fact, to many of us in the Christian world, we are taught to believe that ecclesiastical changes cannot be in alignment with God’s plan for the church today. So believers are put in a state of false peace without reading the handwriting on the wall.
Nevertheless, the Bible teaches otherwise and is very clear about the emerging apostate church that shall come in the last days. According to scripture, the present church shall descend into an appalling state of unbelief, and apostasies. She shall be called an unfaithful bride, a church falling away from the truth of the gospel. And it is looking more likely the present crisis could become a catalyst to fast forward the process. Hence, believers must get prepared for the beginning of the worst because the Coronavirus crisis is going to change your local church, like it or not.
Therefore, the pastors, shepherds, teachers, elders, deacon, overseers, and church leaders must be ready. They must be prepared and willing to accept and embrace the reality of the coming changes. And believers who desire to know the will of God, must do so with a yielded, open, and a ready heart. All must come before the Lord in humility. It is no more a question of if, but when and how the new era shall begin.
