It’s occurred to me that Noah and his family were the first to shelter in place. With many women studying Genesis 1-11 this year, we see similarities between Noah and his family being shut in the ark while the waters prevailed and our being shut in our homes as the virus seems to prevail. But God remembered Noah and God remembers us too. He told Noah when to disembark and He’ll tell us when we can leave our homes and return to work, school, our usual lives. May we be as obedient as Noah.
Despite God’s covenant with Noah and the rainbow as the sign that never again would a flood destroy all flesh, the intentions of mankind’s heart were still evil, sin still occurred and today we still push God’s boundaries. Yet God remains gracious and faithful. Following the flood, when the people were building a city with a tower reaching to the heavens, God graciously intervened or interrupted their plans and dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
COVID-19 feels like an interruption to our plans. We avoid being exposed TO the virus, but Sarah Bourns wrote a convicting poem entitled “We’ve All Been Exposed” describing how the virus exposes us. I encourage you to read the poem and consider its relevance.
This pandemic has shaken up our lives. It feels a little like we’re a snow globe that has been turned upside down and shaken and now we’re watching to see how the snow rearranges itself as it settles. I didn’t realize how dependent I’d become on my comfortable/familiar life, my usual order, routines, relationships and expectations. I’m humbled by this shake up, especially in light of just celebrating Resurrection Sunday, Jesus having conquered death, love winning, and salvation being here.
How are you responding to having life turned upside down and shaken? We’re all experiencing losses of various kinds; for some even loss of life. It can be disorienting and expose us to ourselves in ways we’ve never experienced. Let’s take some time this week to sit with the Lord, perhaps write in a journal, reflect and ponder, confess, cast our anxieties onto Him, and in faith give thanks.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. 1 Peter 1:3-4a