2020 has been a roller coaster ride, hasn’t it? Almost everyone thinks our world is in chaos in 2020. It’s as if our world is a snow-globe shaking up and down. During this pandemic, we have seen empty streets, empty shelves in supermarkets, empty stadiums, and empty churches. These are unsettling times for us.
A young wife and mother, Kelly was driving along with her husband and 3 children in their mini-van earlier this year when everything was shut down. Her 7-year-old son was looking out the window when he said, “Mommy, I think God gave us the Coronavirus so that we could spend more time together as a family.” It’s a cute response and warms the heart but should a 7-year-old boy see God as the One who gives viruses?
A recent poll tells us that this 7-year-old boy is not alone. Some 63% of religious Americans polled feel the virus is a message from God. Essentially, many people think, “if we don’t change, the misery will continue.” I liked how Lance put it, a 52-year-old man in Dallastown, PA. He said, “It could be a sign, like ‘hey, get your act together — I don’t know.”
Does God have a message for us?
Isaiah 41
Keep your Bibles open to Isaiah 41 or page 714 in your pew Bible. Let me set the scene for what you just heard for Isaiah 41 is a challenging piece of the Bible. The first 7 verses picture a courtroom or a trial going on. God calls the gods and their representative nations to account. God is judge and jury, bailiff and prosecutor. He summons the court, makes the case, and declares the verdict.
In verse 1, God calls the far away nations “coastlands” to judgment. In verses 2-4, God makes His case against the nations like a prosecuting attorney. In verses 5-7, you see the nations frightened response because of the failure of their gods.
Let’s keep this young boy’s question at the forefront of our minds for the next few moments. Did God have anything to do with the coronavirus? Do the events of this year mean that God is punishing us?
1. Does God Work Like Karma?
Does the Bible teach us that God brings disasters in our lives like some kind of cosmic karma?
1.1 Karma
Karma is an informal word that speaks of cause and effect. When bad things happen to us we think, “God is punishing me.” Nearly every generation and everyone questions this when the anvil falls. So does God work by karma?
Karma is really cruel and it’s the thought that all suffering is a result of past sins. Jesus taught us that God doesn’t work like karma when he dealt with a blind man. The disciples said, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind” (John 9:2b)? Jesus said neither of these was true.
God is not the god of karma. Suffering is not God bringing the hammer down on you every time something bad happens to you. But God does use evil and suffering as a tool in His hand even though He is perfectly good in every way. God also judges evil because He is righteous.
1.2 Cyrus
2,700 years ago, the problem in Isaiah’s time wasn’t a virus but an upcoming world ruler named Cyrus.
“Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step” (Isaiah 41:2a)? A few chapters later, the prophet Isaiah will tell us that he’s referring to a Persian ruler by the name of Cyrus (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1). Cyrus is the “one from the east” in verse 2. What is now present-day Iran, Persia was soon to be a world-dominating empire on the rise. This Persian dictator Cyrus invaded all the nations as Hitler would do Europe a century ago. He was soon to be the superpower of his day and he struck fear in all the nations, Israel included.
Now, the threats change but the questions remain, “Does God Work Like Karma?” Yes, God does punish sin, but His immediate purposes aren’t always fully transparent. God’s path to accomplishing His purposes isn’t the direct path we would think to take. He is wiser than us. Where take the seemingly direct route, God knows more than we know.
Let me show you.
1.2 Who or What Rules the World?
Almost everyone thinks our world is in chaos in 2020. It’s as if our world is a snow-globe shaking up and down. In a crazy world like this, Do you think Someone or Something runs our globe?
Think back to this virus for a moment. The virus moved from this bat cave and entered in humans, perhaps by moving through chickens or some other kind of livestock. Eventually, the pathogen moved to kill people in the United States and beyond. “How did this happen,” we wonder? One group points to genetic engineering by one group or another. Conspiracy theorists say the virus was introduced in order that some could profit politically or economically. Still another group says, “No, the virus simply evolved naturally without anyone moving the virus along.” The virus leaped from bats and wild animals to humans by blind accident.
Does God have His fingers even in this virus?
Isaiah sees God’s hand even when it’s a ruler set on world domination. Notice your Bible doesn’t say “What” but “Who” in verse 2: “Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step” (Isaiah 41:2a)? Isaiah doesn’t speak of chance or forces at work but he points the finger at God. The Bible says God is the great “Stirrer” of all the world’s events.
Notice Isaiah doesn’t even bother to mention Cyrus’ name at this point because he desires to place the spotlight on God. “Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he” (Isaiah 41:4). God alone deserves the spotlight as the Prime “mover and shaker” to the world’s event and your personal life.
When God launched history, He did not unleash independent forces. God didn’t begin everything and then leave things to chance. God was the first cause and He will be with the last effect. When the final nanosecond of time ticks away, He will be moving the events of your history or our world’s history.
A few chapters later, Isaiah says, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose…’” (Isaiah 49:9b-10). The prophet Isaiah mentions King Cyrus’ name 150 years before Cyrus’ birth. Imagine if I told you the President of the United States’ name in 2170 and you begin to understand the greatness of God. And it turns out it was an accurate prediction.
Cyrus wasn’t a fluke, your dysfunctional family isn’t a fluke, and even the Covid-19 isn’t a fluke. There is One and One only that rules the world. The Bible teaches that God governs your weather as He controls the wind (Luke 8:25), lightning (Job 36:32), and snow (Psalm 147:16). He rules over what brings so much pain and hurt into our lives including, famine (Psalm 105:16), blindness (Exodus 4:11; Luke 18:42), deafness (Exodus 4:11; Mark 7:37), paralysis (Luke 5:24–25), fever (Matthew 8:15), and every disease (Matthew 4:23).
There is One and One only that rules the world.
2. Is God Cruel?
If God rules everything and uses disease as a tool in His hand, does that make God cruel? Since God takes credit for a world leader rising on the scene, is God cruel?
2.1 Peter is Sifted
Look forward from Isaiah to Jesus for a moment. Leave aside Cyrus and Isaiah for a moment and let’s look at Peter’s life. It’s the night of Jesus’ crucifixion when Jesus says this to Peter: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat…” (Luke 22:31). Remember that Simon is another name for Peter – he has two names.
2.1.1 Satan’ Purpose is Evil
Jesus mentions Satan’s name here and you need to know that Satan hates all men. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat…” (Luke 22:31). Now, you might find it odd that Satan asks God for permission only to have God grant him permission to shake and sift His children.
God and Satan can work on the same project but for entirely different outcomes. If Satan is capable of anything close to happiness, he finds malicious joy to bring one of God’s chosen down into evil. And if Satan were to succeed in defeating a believer, he would have robbed Jesus of one that He purchased with His very own blood.
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat…” (Luke 22:31).
Now, you might find it odd that Satan asks God for permission only to have God grant him permission to shake and sift His children. God and Satan can work on the same project but for entirely different outcomes.
Satan loves to destroy one of God’s children: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you…” (Luke 22:31). If Satan is capable of anything close to happiness, he finds malicious joy to bring one of God’s chosen down into evil. If Satan could destroy a child of God then he would have defeated God’s grace and wounded the very heart of God.
2.1.2 God’s Purpose is for Good
“So why is God allowing Satan to touch Peter,” we ask. As Cyrus is God’s tool in Isaiah’s day, so Satan is used in Peter’s life. Do you remember how Peter dripped dangerously with self-confidence around this time: “Peter said to him, ‘Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!’ And all the disciples said the same” (Matthew 26:35).
There are certain degrees of grace that are never produced in a believer until he is severely tempted. Satan is sent into the kitchen to act as God’s dishwasher. Sometimes it is Satan’s special scouring that makes God’s finest china. God can lovingly use even evil forces to scrub us clean for His purposes. God can use even Satan for His purposes.
2.2 God Tends to the Needy
Is God cruel for using evil? Is God cruel for using this virus in our lives?
Back to the courtroom scene of Isaiah now. While this trial is happening, the feeble idol gods of the nations stand silently witnessing the greatness of God. Pick up reading in verse 17: “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the LORD will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 18 I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water” (Isaiah 41:17-18). God says I give drink to the needy and feed the hungry.
God’s path in this crazy world always leads to the same place: “that they may see and know, may consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it” (Isaiah 41:20). This is God’s big purpose in this world: We get the mercy, and God gets the glory.
Who runs the world and His purposes are bigger and grander than any direct path we would take. He doesn’t work by karma and He isn’t cruel.
3. Does God Truly Care?
And the answer is, “Yes, He cares!” He’s doing far more to rescue you than you can comprehend. Look for 5 pillars of fearlessness in verse 10 with me: “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
Though world-dominating dictators rise and fall and global pandemic viruses claim lives, there’s no reason to fear. If Peter succumbs to Satan’s momentary temptations, there is no reason to fear.
God says 5 things to you who trust in Christ,
• I am with you;
• I am your God;
• I will strengthen you;
• I will help you;
• And I will uphold you.
Again, you have 5 pillars of fearlessness trust offered to you:
• I am with you;
• I am your God;
• I will strengthen you;
• I will help you;
• And I will uphold you.
Do you feel the hands of God protecting you right now?
God says, I am your God — I am over you.
I am with you — I am by your side.
I will strengthen you from inside of you.
I will help you all around you from wherever the enemy comes.
I will uphold you from underneath you.
I am over you, by you, inside you, around you, and underneath you. He is the judge of the nations and the ruler of history. He calls the nation into being and holds them accountable. You have no reason to fear!
4. Is God Speaking to Us Now?
Remember, we began by hearing a 7-year-old boy was looking out the window saying, “Mommy, I think God gave us the Coronavirus so that we could spend more time together as a family.” Remember how 52-year-old Lance put it this way: “It could be a sign, like ‘hey, get your act together.’” Again, around 63% of those polled feel the virus is a message from God.
Is God speaking to us in 2020? Yes, God is speaking to our nation this year. Instead of record stock market growth and wonderful vacations, you are limited in ways you never expected.
What is God saying to us?
4.1 Stop Believing People Run the World
Earlier the prophet Isaiah quoted God in saying this: “Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he” (Isaiah 2:22)? The Bible says the person who trusts their own mind is a fool (Proverbs 28:26).
When the virus spiked in March, the search engine Google reported an increase in searches for prayer. When the virus spiked again in April, again the search engine reported an increase in people searching for the word “prayer.” This is a good and wonderful beginning.
God is telling us we need to pay attention to Him. He’s the one who stirs the events of our nation and our lives. Trump isn’t running 2020 and Biden isn’t running 2020. Dr. Fauci isn’t running 2020. God is running 2020 and your personal life. God is reminding all of us that we don’t run the world.
5.2 God’s Judgement is Coming
Again, Karma is really cruel but, of course, there is a “Christianized version” of karma. It’s not really the same thing but you can see how the two would be confused.
If we look in the Bible, we do find some plagues there and we are told that they are God’s judgment. The Bible tells about a regional ruler named Herod who exalted himself as if he were a god. The next sentence sends chills down my spine: “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last” (Acts 12:23). Don’t be mistaken, God will bring specific judgment down on specific sins when He feels it is necessary to do so.
When you look at a passage like this one, you see it: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). God is saying is that every kick has a kickback. You know there are lots of folks who sow their wild oats 6 days a week, and then they come to church on Sunday and pray for crop failure. Isn’t that right? I mean, they have the idea that, somehow, they’re just going to break the law of the harvest.
Still, God doesn’t work karma; He’s not cruel. Not every one of your sins receives immediate judgment. God is more merciful than we can imagine. Still, the coronavirus is God’s thunderclap call for all of us to repent and realign our lives with God’s will.
5.3 Christ is Returning
Jesus said there would be pointers to his coming—like wars, famines, and earthquakes (Matthew 24:7). He called these signs “birth pains” (Matthew 24:8). The image is of the earth as a woman in labor, trying to give birth to the new world, which Jesus would bring into being at his coming. Jesus wants us to see the birth pains (including the coronavirus) as reminders and alerts that he is coming and that we need to be ready. Jesus said, “You . . . must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44).
