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I have not left my house for seven days.
My room is peaceful. The weather outside looks beautiful; puffy clouds glow white with sunlight, and beneath them is a pure blue sky. I spend my days doing mostly schoolwork. Some days, to slack off my energy and stay healthy, I run laps around the house, do squats and sit ups on the floor of my room. Otherwise I clean my room, I play chess with my brother, I read.
Underneath it all is a silence. The sounds of my house are usually rather hushed because my dad and my brother are gone to work, and my mom either cooks, talks to her friends on her phone, is out, or watches TV. Things are quiet. It’s typical. I’m used to it. But for the past week, the silence has had an edge of worry to it.
Maybe it’s just me. It’s probably just me. Me, I fill the silence with music. I’ve been singing and humming ever since I was a little kid, and now I fill my ears with the stuff—I have an eclectic taste—lofi hiphop, jazz, Broadway showtunes, random rap tracks, and epic themes. The rest of the time, I work hard, I plan, I think. But in the few sparse moments of time when the nothingness hits, I feel it.
Worry. Fear.
The coronavirus appears to have taken over the world. It’s discussed everywhere you go—it seems to me that every radio station, every church service, every personal conversation refers to it. In the morning when I wake up to my own familiar allergies, I now wonder if I have the coronavirus. And I’m sure I’m not alone.
But a few mornings ago, I read Psalm 71: 1-2, which says, “In you, Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me; turn your ear to me and save me.” It occured to me that God Himself puts words like these in His Scripture. The psalmist was writing the words, yes, but it was God speaking through him. God wrote a cry of help to Himself. This means that God expressly wants us to come to Him for refuge and deliverance.
And this is what faith is—believing that God is Who He says He is, believing in His Word. As a result of faith, we go to Him. He calls Himself our refuge and our strength; we go to Him.
The undercurrent of anxiety I feel won’t be silenced by music. The slow pulses of lofi and even the brassy throb of a hero’s motif cannot drown fear. But what if I go to God, my Hiding Place, my Comforter?
God is bigger than the coronavirus. He is bigger than the fear in my home, than the worry in my heart. In fact, it’s in times like these that God’s character is most apparent. It’s in times like these that we have an opportunity to spread the Gospel, not just through words but in how we respond to fear.
This is why we should do AllThingsByFaith (specifically our FaithOverFear collection) while living through the time of the coronavirus.
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.
