When we hear stories about price gouging and taking advantage of people during times of crisis, it is likely that only people making money are glad for the circumstance.
When we enter into perilous times we need an idea of what to do. We need to plan, and we need to act wisely. It is a little simplistic to simply say “Fear not, God is present”, or something similar. We need wisdom. In Ecclesiastes 13:12-14a, it says
12 Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves those who have it. 13 Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked? 14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other.
Indeed, God has our back; He has a plan for those that get sick and those who do not. Like many others, in order to avoid suffering, we should choose the wisdom portion, and skip the panic. The practical reality is, we need to shelter in place, and follow the guidelines that health professionals have cautioned us with, to keep the illness away.
Many of us have seen social upheaval. With exceptions, the greatest generation has seen hard times and good times; the boomer generation is used to being around people; and millennials have frequently been content to use social media to get their fix for social interaction. In our lifetime we have never seen a pandemic sweeping over the world. Since this social upheaval is unavoidable, we need to find an opportunity in the midst of a new crisis. Even with fear and wisdom aspects, there is a part that will remain, according to I Corinthians 13:13: 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. We will always have faith hope and love to get us through the emotional and spiritual portion!
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- Faith in God,
- hope for our health care professionals, and essential people
- love for everyone who is especially needing help during these troubled times.
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How can a Christian make this into an opportunity? Everything is new, so we can try different things without the fear of feeling too weird. Here are a few that I can think of as I consider it:
- I can call or text someone.
- I can make a video to send to my friends.
- I can volunteer to help with ‘remote projects’ that are ongoing at my church.
- I can reach out to my neighbors and make sure they are doing ok, even while they socially isolate from viruses.
- I can write a lot more (I have the motivation, and time!)
