What should we do in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic?
With the recent tragic outbreak of coronavirus throughout the earth, we have all been affected in one way or another. The response of many has been anxiety and fear. But there is another way to respond – and that is to seek God!
God says that a time of pestilence presents a particular opportunity for people to “humble themselves and pray and seek My face” (2 Chron. 7:14) “The God of peace Himself” (1 Thes. 5:23) does not want to remain only in the heavens, but He wants to be found by us and be peace to us. Jesus tells us, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe into God, believe also into Me.” (John 14:1) We do not have to be troubled. We do not have to live in anxiety and fear. There is another way. “The Lord is near” (Phil. 4:5).
But if God is in the heavens, how can He be near to us? The Bible tells us that God went through a series of steps to be our life and our peace. He came down from heaven and was incarnated 2,000 years ago to become a man named Jesus so He could live with us and directly experience our human situation. Jesus lived a perfect human life on this earth (John 1:1, 14) as a model of what human life should be – unmarred by the poison of sin that afflicts us, and no longer subject to the main result of that poison, which is death. No other human being has positively affected human history as much as Jesus has. Wherever Jesus went, He brought peace to those who sought Him.
Then, to solve the problem of sin and death, Jesus went to the cross to suffer death on our behalf as our Substitute (Isa. 53:4-6). On the cross, He was able to produce the divine antidote to the poison of sin – which is His eternal life released to be imparted into us to swallow up sin and death. He died for us, to forgive us of our sins so that we could be at peace with the holy and righteous God (Eph 2:13-14) and not perish but receive eternal life by believing into Him (John 3:16). Through His death and resurrection, we can have peace with God and with others. Then, on the evening of His resurrection, He appeared to His disciples and said, “Peace be to you” and breathed into them saying “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:21-22).
Now, today, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart…that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”(Rom. 10:8-9). A simple way to receive Jesus as your peace and to be saved from the sin, darkness, and death in this world is to pray as follows:
Lord Jesus, I believe into You! Lord Jesus, save me from sin and death! Lord Jesus, I want to receive You as my life and my peace! Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into me to live in me!
After you have prayed to receive Jesus, you can continue to practice having fellowship with Him regularly. To fellowship with God is simply to converse with Him in a genuine way. “In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6) Come to Him in prayer. Open to Him your concerns and thank Him for who He is and what He has done for you. In so doing, you can enter into His salvation, “and the peace of God, which surpasses every man’s understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (vs. 7).
To learn more about who God is and what He has done for us in Jesus, we invite you to download some free books at our website: