Many of us are at home and have more time than usual to improve our relationship with God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. This is probably the most important activity we can do at this time. When we say to God, we want to improve our relationship with Him and allow Him to come into our lives more fully, He is listening and will respond.
In James, God tells us: “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:8, NIV
Let’s just look at the first part of this verse. Here we see that if we draw near to God, God will come close to us. More than ever during the time of the Coronavirus, we want to be closer to God and open our hearts to HIs ways and callings. Too easily we can begin to think catastrophically and become focused on all of our needs and wants.
For some of us, our insecurities result in rushing to the store and and buying as much toilet paper as we can. We buy too many canned goods being afraid we will not have enough food in the future. Some people are buying guns.
Now in the second part of the verse in James, God tells us how to come closer to Him. He instructs us to “purify our hearts”. We know as Christians who put our faith in Jesus Christ, that we must look to Him for help us in developing out spiritual lives. As much as we may try on our own to control our selfish desires, we find out over and over again that our human willpower will fail us. Only when we reach out to God and call out to Him with sincerity will we allow Him into our lives, to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
If we look to Him now during the Coronavirus, Psalm 91 tells us how much He loves us, because He will provide and protect us, even during the most difficult of times.
Psalm 91
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
“Because he ( probably the king ) loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
If we read Psalm 91 carefully, we can see that God will protect us from many things. But we must believe in Him and His power if He is to do these things in our lives. First of all, declare Jesus as your Lord and Savior if you haven’t yet. Say this simple prayer sincerely, “Lord, I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. I accept You as my Lord and Savior, and ask You to wash away my sins by Your grace and mercy. I open my heart to you Lord and ask You to come live inside me, to change me and love me. Amen.
If you have true belief in your heart that you trust the Lord and accept HIs ways over yours, then the promises in Psalm 91 of protestation and all the other promises that Jesus has made to us are yours. The Lord requires our surrender to His will in our lives, but the rewards of doing so are beyond our wildest dreams or imaginations. It is just the beginning that He will be with us “in trouble” and show us His salvation.
Our lives become far more satisfying living with the Lord’s promises that unfold in our lives than any life we could live without Him. God will always reveal more to us in our walk with Him.
So what did we learn in this examination of the Holy Scriptures of God’s Word?
We have found out that God does not want to condemn us. The Coronavirus is not about condemnation or punishment. God wants to save us, and that is why He sent His Son Jesus Christ to the earth. He wants us to draw closer to Him, have faith in his protection, goodness and mercy and not to panic. God will provide for us during this time. Knowing that, we can devote our time to deepening our relationship with Him.
We can pray more and come to know Him more through the Word of God. This activity can have a tremendous impact on how we live our lives, even when the seclusion in our homes is over. We can examine the areas of our lives where we do not depend on God for answers, whether it is in the area of our relationships with others, our attitudes toward money, fears of getting older and how we will be provided for, relationships with others, and how we make our livelihoods. Perhaps we should be taking new steps to provide our good health, like taking regular walks.
The list of ways on how we can improve our lives goes on and on . We can listen to God’s urging and write these ideas down. He will help us to prioritize them so we know where to start. With His help, we can examine each area, and continue our inquiry. The next step is to write down our goals, and steps we need to take to accomplish them.
A Bible journal that also acts as a prayer journal is a very good tool to use to bring God’s promises to us to fruition as we keep drawing closer to Him. God will not let us down, but we must seek Him, call upon Him, and know the joy of communing with Him.
He will provide for us because we are His children. He wants each of us to be brought closer to Him, no matter how far we have wandered away from Him.
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James 4:8, NIV: “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”