05/08/2020
Do we honor Jesus in all we say and do? Is everything in our life focused on bringing glory to God? What is it that draws us from slumber and makes us eager to face each day? In this time of COVID-19 it is hard to envision our life being as spiritually robust as it once was, but this virus is a bodily scourge, and doesn’t actually attack our spiritual health. When our body is ill, our minds wrought by fever, or our heart sinks in mourning and disillusionment, let the Holy Spirit encourage hope and expectation in our spirit so that we will bring honor to Jesus each day, and glorify God... in both life, and death alike.
“as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Philippians 1:20 ESV
When storm clouds gather, and lightning strikes all around us what do we do? On days when our children lay in hospital beds sick, and we can’t hold their hands as we pray for them, how then should we pray? When the bodies of our loved ones are draped in death, and we can’t gather to bury them in our customary manner, how do we mourn? In times like these Satan would have us feel lost, helpless, separated from one another, and far from God. He uses our distress, and loneliness, in an attempt to steal our eager expectation and hope In God and Jesus... and to convince us that these plagues are of God, attempting to make us deaf to His small still voice. God is not the storm, but He is there with us.
“There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””
1 Kings 19:9 ESV
When Elijah first came to the cave everything was calm, angels had been tending to him, and God spoke to him clearly, just as He does with us when all is calm in our lives, but sometimes terrible trouble comes to us, and God allows us to be exposed to it. He is before it, and He is after it, but He is not in it...
“And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.”
1 Kings 19:11-12 ESV
Winds, earthquakes, fires, all these calamities still come today, and COVID-19, like those, comes as well, but just as we heard God’s voice before these things came, we will certainly hear His low whisper after they have passed. We praise God in the storm, but He is not the storm... we praise Him because He is with us in the midst of the storm, just as He was before it arrived, and will be when it departs. Our faith, like that of Elijah, should allow us to hear God’s low whisper because God’s Word is the same after the storm as it was before, but His peace now rests on us like a gentle whisper...
“And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””
1 Kings 19:13 ESV
So let’s ask ourselves the same question that God asked Elijah... “What am I doing here”, and let’s turn inward to our spiritual selves as we seek the answer to that question. On the calm days we hear God’s voice, and no matter the catastrophes that come, we should be praying in their midst, and listening for God’s low voice when they have passed. So, our answer should be that we are praying, honoring Christ, glorifying God, hoping, and eagerly expecting to hear God’s voice speaking to us in all of life’s moments... when the angels tend us, and when storms gather around us. Is this what we are doing each day, and do we allow the storms that attack our body, minds, and heart, to diminish the hope and expectation that resides in our spirit? I pray they do not.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your voice that speaks to me all the days of my life. I thank you for your loud clear resonance when all is right in my life, I thank you for your silence as I wait faithfully on you, and I thank you for your low gentle voice once you have ushered my troubles passed me, and are soothing my spirit. Every day should be like the others as I honor your Son Jesus, and bring Glory to your name... the good, the bad, and the terrible days, should all find me praying in hope and expectation in your presence, and your voice. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God in the midst of calamity, who holds the hands of my children when I can’t, gives utterance to my prayers when I haven’t the words, and stands with me to bury my dead when no one else can, or will. Great are you who hears my voice in prayer over the howl of the raging wind about me, the rumble of earthquakes, and the roar of every fire. Praised be your name Lord for your silence within the storms, because you are not in them, even though you are there with me as I suffer through them. Your mercy and grace abound in every circumstance of my life, and I will lean on your Word, love, and goodness, even through the most horrific of tragedies that stalk me. Strengthen my faith Holy Father, and give my spirit resolve as I adhere to your Word, bringing honor and glory to you now, and forevermore.
Stand close beside us Father as we face this, our most recent trouble, Coronavirus, our ongoing tragedy, and Satan’s attempt to separate us from you. Hear our ongoing prayers, even as we listen for the whisper of your voice that will signal the end of this plague. We worship you from within our suffering, and call on the name of your Son Jesus as we call out “Get thee behind me Satan!”
“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.”
Mark 4:23-24 ESV
Rich Forbes