Why is there a feeling that things are falling apart in these uncertain times? Do we sense that anarchy is increasingly eroding law and order? What has happened to ethics? Is there a centre that is falling apart? What is that centre? What is your centre? What is my centre?
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.”
Opening to The Second Coming – W. B. Yeats, 1865 – 1939
Has 2020 been a year in which your basic assumptions have been challenged? Have your basic assumptions changed about yourself and the planet in which we live? My guess is they have – for you and for millions of people all over the world. Are you disturbed by what has happened in 2020? Should you be?
Dr. Ian McCallum of Port Elizabeth, South Africa has written about these challenges to our assumptions in a very important “must read” article.
Dr. McCallum is a psychiatrist, psychologist, award winning author and poet. He is an adjunct professor at the Nelson Mandela Graduate School of Business in Port Elizabeth. He is also an honorary lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cape Town. In his youth he was a Springbok Rugby player (he represented South Africa).
You have just left on a long journey. You are to be away for a long, long time. Where you are there are no cell phones. No WhatsApp. No FaceTime. No eMail. No communication at all.
Question
Is there anything you regret you did not tell someone you love?
Once upon a time in a beautiful valley in the mountains of Europe there was a small village. In the village lived an old lady. She had the reputation for being very wise. People in the village often used to go to her and ask her for advice.
In the same village there also lived two young boys. Despite the fact that they were not living in the age of Professor Google, they nevertheless had reached the age of infinite wisdom. There was not much they did not know (or so they thought).
One day the two boys decided to test the wisdom of the old lady to see how smart she really was. They were sure they could catch her out. Easily. This is what they did.
They caught a small bird. A bird so small it could fit into the palm of their hands. They told their friends about their plan. “That old lady does not know much. She is really old fashioned. Here is what we are going to do. I am going to put this bird in the palm of my hands.Then we are going to visit the old lady. We will tell her that I have a tiny bird hidden in my hands. Then I am going to ask her if the little bird in my hands is dead or alive. If she says the bird is dead I will open my hands and the bird will fly away. She will be proved wrong. If she says the bird is alive, I well crush the bird with my hands and show her the dead bird. She will be proved wrong. I wonder what the smart old lady will say. Whatever she says, she will be wrong. She can’t win!.”
The other children listening were very impressed with this clever plan to show the famous old lady could be wrong. They all trooped along with the two boys and the little bird to watch the old lady being caught out.
The two boys with the bird arrived at the old lady’s cottage. Plenty of other children were watching.
At the door of the cottage, the two boys presented their challenge to the old lady: “Tell us if the bird is alive or dead”
There was a hush. The old lady looked carefully at the two boys.
One of the watching children whispered, “She doesn’t know”.
At last the old lady spoke. “It is completely in your hands whether the bird will live of die. I repeat: The bird’s life is completely in your hands. It is your choice.”
There was just silence.
Continue
The two boys and the watching children were amazed at the old lady’s wise answer. It is a story they remembered and spoke about for the rest of their lives.
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The take away
We all have great trans-formative power. When faced with a situation, good or bad, we have a choice. By what we do, we can make a situation better or worse. How a situation evolves is very much in our hands. Such is our power of transformation.Take care. Be safe.
Source: The story is an adaptation by me of a story which is all over the internet in different forms.
They say the Lion and the Lizard keep The Courts where Jamshýd gloried and drank deep: And Bahrám, that great Hunter–the Wild Ass Stamps o’er his Head, but cannot break his Sleep.
The Corona virus (COVID-19) clearly falls within this definition.
Surely therefore it is reasonable to interpret the last part of Psalm 91:3 to read follows;-
Surely God will “deliver thee” from the Corona virus (COVID-19).
Is God doing that at the moment ( April 2020)?
Many, many people in the world are infected with the virus and will become infected. Many people have died and will die.
Many of these people will be committed Christians.
This may cause many people to sadly conclude that God is not delivering on His promise of protection against pestilence in Psalm 91:3.
Are they right?
It goes without saying that this is an extremely serious question which calls for prayerful consideration. .
My genuine humble opinion is that it is incorrect to conclude that God is not delivering on His promise of protection against pestilence in Psalm 91:3.
It may be useful to note upfront that verse 3 does not say God is delivering us, it states that God will deliver us. That is why it is not right or logical to use verse 3 to conclude that God is not delivering right now on His promise of protection against pestilence in Psalm 91:3. The word “will” tells us it is a promise about the future. More about this below.
First, Scripture does not teach that the Lord always grants divine blanket protection for all believers in all circumstances (see website at end of post). Two thousand years of martyrs dying painful deaths confirms this. Remember: In the 23rd Psalm God promises to be with us as we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death. God does not promise to lead us round the valley.
Second, and here we come to Psalm 91:3. Lets look at it carefully:
Consider again the word “will
“Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.“
“will” refers to the future. So the verse is saying: Even if you get the virus and no matter what the virus may do to you, your eternal security remains secure. Ultimately God will save you from the “deadly pestilence”. Remember: The Psalms often “look forward to eternity”.
Note that the verse does not say when God will save us from “deadly pestilence”. It could be now, some other time during our lifetime or even beyond.
Remember: In this life God grants us not security from all human ills, but security in (Christ).
Hear what Jesus said about the eternal security He has given to us:
John 6:37-40 KJV
37 “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
This is why Paul wrote in Romans 8:35,37,38 and 39 as follows (COVID-19 added!):
Romans 8:35.37,38 and 39 KJV
“35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, not even Covid-19, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
There is no doubt that God will save us from COVID-19. We know not when or where. However we do know that final victory is certain and secure. We have Christ’s own word for it. In His farewell teaching to His apostles He said:
John 16:33 King James Version (KJV)
33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”.
May the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.
Praise the Lord
May the contents of this post, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer.
Acknowledgment
An article on the UK Apologetics Website helped me with this post. \Some phrases and ideas on the website have been used in this post. I recommend that you go to the website. Click here.
Here is the link to an excellent article about God and the pandemic, written by a Jesuit Priest. It is well written, well reasoned and clear. Above all it is honest. Click here. I came across the article after I had written the above post.
I will simply relate what happened with no explanation how and why.
Yesterday, 16 May 2020, my wife went to buy something from a pharmacy in Port Elizabeth. When it came to paying, she could not find her credit card in her purse or handbag.
When she got home she told me about the missing card.
We searched everywhere for it. In every corner of her handbag and purse. In every room. In between cushions of where she usually sits. In pockets of clothing. In the car, Everywhere we could think of.
We then worked out when she had last used the card. It was three days before on Wednesday 13 May. She had used it outside at our gate to pay for a food delivery by swiping the card through a portable device.
Perhaps the card had fallen on the ground near the gate? We searched the area around the gate. No card. We phoned the business that had delivered the food. Did they take the card by mistake? No luck.No card.
We checked on the internet to see if the card had been used. It had not. The last entry was the payment for the delivered food. Clearly the card was not being used. We continued looking. The card had to be somewhere.
Then this morning we decided that we had to phone our Bank to report the card as lost. Before doing that I told my wife that I wanted to try something.
I told her that I would hold some of my cards in my hand on a chance that the combined energy of the cards in my hand would somehow sync with the energy of the missing card and lead me to it.
What a crazy idea! But please read on.
So I did just that. With the clump of cards in my hand I felt inclined to search again on the dining room floor using a torch. No card.
I then felt inclined to go onto the front porch and look under our dog’s blanket. No card.
Then, still holding my clump of cards I felt drawn to look at the gate area. I looked all around. I even looked in a pile of pine needles near the gate. No card.
I was about to go back inside when I felt a strong inclination to open the gates and look in the outside driveway.
I opened the electronic security gates and walked through, still firmly holding my clump of cards. I walked a few paces and there on my right in the driveway, next to the wall, was the the missing card.
johnbartels.com 