Covid Strikes Back

 After 2+ years of successfully keeping Covid-free in our household, Covid has finally shown up.  My wife and daughter both came down with Covid this week, despite being vaccinated and boosted.

Although I am symptom free at the moment, I have been teleworking for my secular job for the past two days, and have decided to have a guest speaker fill in at Naylor Community Christian Church (Facebook account here) for the next two Sundays so I don't inadvertently share an infection in case I am a non-symptomatic carrier.

Covid has certainly been one of the most divisive issues to hit this country and our churches in my lifetime.  Never did I imagine a virus would divide communities and churches the way this one has.  Never did I imagine a virus would be politicized to the extent it has.  It is baffling, to say the least.

I worry that this pandemic might be a warning sign from God.  Certainly, the Bible seems to make the case that God has reached out to His people through plague and pestilence in the past.  And while I do not think this is a sign of God's judgment and wrath on the world, I do think God allowed this pandemic to happen to get our attention so that we might turn back to Him in repentance and faith.

I am perplexed at why no one in the Christian community seems to have made this case, and so I wonder if I am just a lone voice completely lost in the wilderness and not understanding the reality of what is occurring.  

We have been going through a series at our new church called Walking with Jesus.  The next message in this series is "Walking with Jesus in Warfare," referring to the spiritual battles that we face in our everyday lives.  Maybe it's because I've been studying and researching spiritual warfare that I see a spiritual component in this pandemic.  

As a scientist, I understand the reality of viruses and how we are now seeing novel viruses arise with increased transmissibility that allows them to impact populations around the world.  This is certainly exacerbated because of the ease of intercontinental travel in our 21st century.  A virus in China or Africa can make it to the United States or Europe in less than 24 hours because of modern transportation.  So, pandemics make sense.  Novel viruses make sense.  New diseases and infections make sense from a scientific viewpoint.

But I still feel there is an underlying spiritual component in this pandemic that is not being discussed.  As I said above, God has certainly used pandemics in the past to catch the attention of His people  C.S. Lewis opined that pain was God's megaphone, and the same case could be made for pandemics and natural disasters.  Both of these would seem to be events that would cause individuals to cry out to God for help, or at least answers.

On the other hand, one can certainly see how Satan has used this pandemic to divide the communities of faith in the U.S., and how this pandemic has raised the sin of Christian nationalism to unheard of levels as the virus became politicized and turned into a red versus blue battle.  

There is something going on at the spiritual level that we are missing.  To what end?  I do not know.  But I do know no one is talking about it.  I do not hear the spiritual side of the pandemic being discussed in the communities of faith or in Christian media.  This concerns me, but I don't know what to do other than to try to keep close accounts with God and to encourage those in my faith community to do the same.  

So, get vaccinated.  Stay safe.  Stay close to God.  Turn to Him with your questions and your fears.  Seek revival through repentance.  And have faith that God is working, even when we don't see it with our fleshly eyes.