From Crisis
to Calm
by Robert Krumrey
For updates and official responses, please visit our dedicated page: mercyhouse365.org/covid-19
As most of you are aware, all five of our college campuses are shutting down and doing classes online for the next few weeks or even until the end of the semester. This is an unprecedented moment in the history of our region and of our church. I wanted to reach out and say that we are here to help! Both with the truth of God’s word and with assistance as needed. That means that students who are reading this, please reach out to us at contact@mercyhouse365.org and let us know if there is anything we can do (rides, temporary shelter, assistance with travel, etc.). This also means that church members who have homes or apartments and cars who would be willing to assist, please fill out this FORM so we know what we can offer.
In addition to physical assistance, we also want to remind everyone of the truth about God and his control over what feels like chaos. He is never asleep at the wheel of history and is always at work in the midst of every situation. Jesus describes God’s care over the earth and its people in the following way:
“25 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Providence
Notice that Jesus’ argument for God’s care for his children is from a “lessor to a greater” argument. He uses this argument quite a lot. He asks us to consider how God sustains all the details of the creation. He’s implying that the way that birds stay fed and flowers grow is through the providential care of God. Not only do they survive in a utilitarian sort of way, but they are also beautiful. This implies a power that is beyond that of an engineer but also an artist. He then turns the spotlight from flowers and birds to us! He asks us the question, that if God exercises so much care in stewarding birds and flowers, how much more care will he exercise in his care for human beings who were created to bear his image.
Perishable
Jesus also makes a lessor to greater argument regarding the perishable nature of grass. This thing that God is so intimately involved in is here today and gone tomorrow. As we compare how quickly grass perishes with the typical life span of a human being, again we are reminded of their value and how much God must care for them. This comment about humans being less perishable than grass is then offset with Jesus’ comment about our human frailty. He reminds us that a human cannot “add a single hour to his (or her) span of life”. This again is a reminder that God is superintending everything in our universe, including the life span of every human being. In a sense, this makes us invincible until God says otherwise. All of us have been living and breathing this week because God has been sustaining us by grace. He will continue to do that through a Corona Virus pandemic if he so chooses. Whether we perish or not is ultimately in the hands of God regardless of circumstances around us.
Personal
One of the things that is so prevalent throughout this text is how personal God is. Even in the fact that Jesus is addressing worry and anxiety. He has compassion on us and understands what it’s like to be a human in this fallen world. As Hebrews says, he “sympathizes with our weaknesses”. He doesn’t just tell us to keep a stiff upper lip and soldier on or shame us for being big babies with bad theology. He comforts us with the truths that God is near, that he is involved, and that we can lean on him for practical assistance. If you find yourself “freaking out” today, reach out to your Father in heaven and ask for help. He is listening and he cares about the details of your health, your family’s health, your travel arrangements, everything!
Purposeful
Jesus sums this section up with a well known verse that might be a bit of a surprise. He finishes up all this talk about daily needs with a charge to seek first the Kingdom of God. It is here that we see that not only is Jesus concerned about our worry and anxiety, but he’s concerned about worry and anxiety sabotaging the way we function as citizens in his kingdom. When we get our thinking corrected about who God is and his concern for us, we can now start to crawl out of our hole of anxiety and look for God’s greater purposes. Make no mistake, God is in control of Corona and he is at work in the world. He is at work on our five campuses. He is at work in our communities. He is at work in our church. As you lean on God for comfort and strength, your next move is to report for duty in the army of your king. His gospel is never more potent than in times of suffering and struggle. A gospel that can save us from our worst enemy which is sin and much more serious than a biological pandemic. It has eternal consequences and has a 100 percent infection rate. But know that the disease of sin and all of its symptoms also has a 100 percent cure through the remedy of the cross of Jesus to all who are willing to receive it.
For updates and information, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 page here.