Does A Virus Have Eyes?

Today's post is sent from one of Mustard Seed’s site leaders, Rasi, to encourage you in this time of crisis. Mustard Seed first met Rasi as a young, strong-willed, streetwise orphan dropped off at Seeds of Hope Children's Home. Today, with a graduate degree, he is the principal of a school that’s grown to 660 students since his arrival 14 years ago. Last week, teachers handed out homework assignments and closed the school. In their area, internet limitations prohibit on-line learning. Rasi wrote this devotional as an encouragement to others during this challenging time. Today, the teachers are praying and fasting for us all.

Does a virus have eyes? Do viruses pick their victims and prefer those who are wicked and far away from God? I don’t believe so. There are believers who are affected by this current crisis both directly and indirectly. There are good people who have lost their lives and their families during these challenging times. Are these people lacking in faith, or does the virus mistakenly hit good people? As believers, there are many things we don’t understand when bad things happen in our lives. Let us learn from the stories in the Bible.

Asaph, in Psalm 73, thought that it was in vain that he kept his heart pure and washed his hands in innocence, while the arrogant and the wicked had no struggles and their bodies were healthy and strong, not plagued by human ills. I've learned that believers have real struggles too. Even bad things happen to those who believe in God. So let us focus on how to respond well when struggles and bad things happen in our lives.

We can learn many things from the life of Job. The Bible says that Job was a blameless and upright man; he feared God and shunned evil, but tragedies struck him. The enemy killed all his children. He also lost his wealth, his health, and his friends. He was left alone in the ashes, but he responded correctly. There are three things that we can ponder from Job’s testimony:

1. Job fell to the ground in worship (Job 1:20). Even though all his life he kept his way pure, bad things still happened to him. He didn’t understand why. But in the midst of confusion, he chose to believe that God is in control of everything. He chose to fall to the ground and worship God.

2. Job acknowledged that everything he possessed in life was God’s (Job 1:21). “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” He didn’t take possession of everything he had in life. His wealth, family, even his breath, all belonged to God.

3. Job never accused God of doing any wrongdoing to him (Job 1:22). God’s character is holy, good, and true. Job believed that God would never plan bad things in his life. He trusted God’s everlasting and unchanging character, even in the darkest hours of his life.

I pray that all of us, who are directly and indirectly affected by the covid-19 virus, know that God is here with us. He is our Rock and our Strength.

Rasi
MSI Site Leader

Background pic: Unsplash/Corinne Kutz