After my counseling session today, we had lunch, followed by a snooze and then a few phone calls. When speaking to a close friend, he told me how he put six eggs on to boil before going outside to do something. He said that suddenly there was an explosion, and, as a military man, he went to investigate. In walking around the house he heard a few more explosions only to eventually go inside to find egg shells all over the kitchen and a terrible smell of smashed eggs. He mentioned it took a long time to clean the mess.
Then, a lady sent me a WhatsApp message with a video attachment asking me what I think about the prophecy in the video clip. I wondered why she did not ask her pastor or at least a pastor closer to her vicinity. The clip was over 40 minutes and dealt with the COVID-19 virus ushering in the “rapture”. (I don’t believe in the rapture – my theological and eschatological position prefers what is called the Consummation). She wanted a response and so I spent a few hours crafting a documented response to the video clip. (Sadly, it is far too long to add here.)
We do live at a momentous time. This period of history is unequalled in our life time. We might call Covid-19 explosions; we might tend to think that the way the infection rate is moving, soon everyone on the planet will die; we might even be tempted to feel that this virus was designed and engineered to change the World Order and bring us as a world under one sovereign human leader that will dictate our future and our fate.
In other words we might easily tend to misinterpret Scripture (particularly the Book of Revelation) and see all sorts of weird and scary things that cause fear and panic. These I’m calling explosions! Some explosions might come from messages we receive from well-meaning friends.
Is it not strange that we want to explore into the unknown? We are intrigued by the unseen and invisible! This excites us, raises our heart rates, causing the adrenalin to pump! Those are the explosions all around us that fascinate us. However, this fascination could easily cause our focus to shift from the Scriptures to other intriguing matters that, in fact, are really meaningless!
A helpful Scripture for me has been the one in Deuteronomy 29:29. It says:
Dt 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
The truth be told, no one knows where this COVID-19 epidemic is going. We don’t know whether a vaccine will be found soon. We don’t know how long different shapes of lock down will last. We don’t know the magnitude of the effect this virus will have on the world’s economy. We don’t know, we don’t know, we don’t know … but we want to!
Thinking of Deuteronomy 29:29, I like to talk about the fact that there are no answers to the “why” question. That’s secret. That’s God’s business, but our business is the Word of God (“this law”).
Don’t be fooled by explosions. Don’t allow distractions. Don’t permit voices to speak fear and panic and anxiety into your mind. Rather, allow only God’s Word to dominate your thinking and your mind. That is the safest place to be.
Lord Jesus, in the face of the unknown, help me to trust the known … You, Lord. Amen.