When You Are Powerless, Jesus Is Not

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I just took all my financial information to my accountant who does my taxes. A few weeks ago I took my car to my mechanic to get it fixed. A couple of months ago, when my furnace went out, I called a heating and cooling company that sent out a tech to get it working again.

We’re used to having professionals take care of stuff that we can’t. But this Coronavirus is different. There is no medical researcher with a cure for this virus. There is no doctor we can go to get an immunization vaccine. The best the government can do is to recommend we limit contact with each other. We’re feeling very vulnerable because we are feeling very helpless, and that is scary.

Jesus’ disciples felt like that one day on the sea of Galilee when a furious storm came up so quickly the disciples had no time to make it to shore. Before they knew it, the rain was blowing sideways, the waves were crashing into and over their boat, threatening to sink it. They were helpless.

But Jesus was also on that boat. And standing up, he addressed the storm as if it was an unruly child, and said, “Quiet! Be Still!” Suddenly, the wind stopped blowing, the rain stopped falling, the waves stopped churning, and the once wildly rocking boat now glided calmly along the glassy surface of the sea.

Jesus has the power you and I do not have. He has the almighty power of God. And in this present health crisis which makes us feel so small and weak and helpless, he is with us. He promised that when he said, “I am with you always to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

So Jesus—who is your almighty God and your loving Savior—will get you through this crisis. He will end this threat at the right time. And until then he will make sure you have what you need each day. No matter how helpless you may feel, you are never helpless with him by your side.

What Do We Pray In Times Like This?

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So, what are you praying for these days? For God to keep you and your loved ones from getting the coronavirus? For God to end the threat of this virus, so people don’t get sick or die from it anymore, and so you can stop losing income and pay your bills?

Those prayers are appropriate because God invites us to pray, “Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you,” he says in Psalm 50.

But, in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus also taught us to pray, “Your will be done.” (Matthew 26:42) Why would you pray, “Your will be done” in these days when you are stressed about your future or that of those you love? Because God has promised to bring good out of your suffering. The apostle Paul reminds us of this in Romans 8:28 when he says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

What good could God bring out of the uncertainty and anxiety caused by this virus? He could be reminding you that you need him so that you rely more on him and less on yourself or the things of this world. That would be good. He could be showing you that things you assume will always be there—your health, your job, your income, your lifestyle—can be gone in a flash so you don’t build your life on such unreliable things but instead on him. That would also be good. He could be helping you rethink your priorities, so you think more about what matters—your relationship with God, being there for your loved ones, helping the needy, and hurting. That would be good too.

Maybe it would be good to pray for God to open your eyes to all the good that he can work through these present hardships and the suffering they may bring you. Because that is his specialty. Through the worst suffering possible—his Son’s suffering at the cross for your sins, he achieved your greatest good- your eternal salvation. So, keep praying “Your will be done,” with confidence that he will keep working well for you in these difficult times.

Lord, even as I ask you to protect my loved ones and me during this difficult time, I also pray that your will be done. Help me to trust that your will is always best for me. Amen.

Life Never Seems To Be What We Want It To Be

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Do you remember the name of Michael Jackson’s estate? He called it, “Neverland,” after the fictional island in “Peter Pan.” It included a lavish home with a huge theater, gardens, fountains, a four-acre pool, and a private amusement park and zoo.

But did it make him happy? A lot of people who knew him described him as troubled. Michael’s dream estate never gave him true peace and contentment. Sadly, the name “Neverland” was fitting.

“Neverland” is a fitting name for the world we live in. It never seems to give us the peace and contentment we are looking for. Things might be going great and then a pandemic turns our lives upside down. But even before the coronavirus brought upheaval and anxiety into your life, you probably had financial pressures, relationship problems, work stress, illness in your body, or sadness in your heart. Because this life is “Neverland”—never able to give us the life we long for.

But even as we are keenly aware of how this life fails us, here’s what does not fail: God’s love for you. The Bible describes God’s love as “unfailing” no less than 32 times. He loves you so much that he sent his Son to undo the mess you have made in your relationship with him and the mess that human sin has made of life. He sent his Son into our world to suffer on a cross for our sins as if HE was the one who had messed things up. Through that sacrifice, you are forgiven.

Now there is nothing to keep you from going to heaven, a very different kind of “Neverland.” In heaven, there will NEVER be and sin. There will NEVER be any suffering. There will NEVER be any disappointment. There will NEVER be any death.

So expect this world to be “Neverland” when it comes to being what you long for it to be. But be content and at peace anyway. Because God’s love in Jesus Christ will never fail you. In that love, God will give keep forgiving you and giving you what you need until that day when he brings you to perfectly restored life in the “Foreverland” of heaven.

Jesus Is Your Certainty In Uncertain Times

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I recently checked out some survey data for a community here in my hometown. At number five on the list of life concerns were “Fear of the future and fear of the unknown.” If you were to survey that same community today I am sure that “fear of the future and fear of the unknown” would be a clear number one with all the questions about the future on our minds these days as we face the threat of the coronavirus.

Two thousand years ago, the apostle John was also feeling uncertainty and anxiety about the future. In a vision God gave him, he saw a scroll with the future recorded on it. But it was rolled up and sealed. The uncertainty of the future reduced John to fearful tears. He said, “I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside” (Revelation 5:4).

But when John finally wiped away his tears, he saw a Lamb which appeared to have been sacrificed but was alive and standing near the throne of God in heaven. And as the Lamb picked up the scroll, all of heaven broke into a joyful song with lyrics that went like this: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

The sacrificial Lamb next to God’s throne was Jesus whom the Bible calls “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). At the cross, Jesus took your place and died for all of your sins. It’s a great comfort to know that the one who holds the future in his hands is the God who loves you so much he suffered and died and rose again for you!

But it gets better. The Lamb in John’s vision opened the scroll. He revealed the future! And it is good news. Life will not be easy. But through it all the Lamb will be with you. Whatever comes, he will give you strength and comfort to get through it. And when death comes, he will share his victory over death with you and bring you to a life free of all danger and uncertainty forever in heaven.

Lamb of God, comfort me in these uncertain times by reminding me that my future is in your loving hands. Amen.