Police Devotion 4-2-2020
“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:40)
Do you wonder why God is letting the coronavirus go on? Scripture doesn’t give us any direct answers. The Bible talks about pestilence and sickness, but you won’t find any specific passage about the current coronavirus pandemic. Yet God gives guidelines in His Word to help us make sense of what’s going on.
First of all, God is good. In light of this virus, people may not believe God is good, but He is. Psalm 145:9 says, “The LORD is good to all:” That passage and many others assure us that God is good to all.
Jesus said, “…he [God] maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45) No doubt many people rarely if ever give God a second thought. He has little or no practical meaning in their lives. Some may never take time to acknowledge Him, much less thank Him for His goodness or read His Word. Yet He lets their lives prosper and their children to grow and flourish: “…he [God] is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” (Luke 6:35) So God is good.
Some may ask if God is good, why do we have this virus? Please consider that God doesn’t just care about earthly life, but most importantly about eternity. Yes, earthly life is important. Income, education, marriage, child-rearing, and recreation all have a place, but they all end at death. What about afterward?
Jesus also asked, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26) Earthly life ends at death. Eternity is forever. No matter what you accomplish in earthly life, it will mean nothing if you lose your soul in eternity. That’s why God cares most about eternity.
2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” To perish is to die without your sins forgiven, lose your soul, and spend eternity in hell. Many people may not believe this is true, but God knows it’s true. He had created hell “…for the devil and his angels:” (Matthew 25:41) and He doesn’t want people to go there.
Yet people are guilty of sin and are separated from God: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23) And if they die separated from God, no matter what they’ve accomplished in life, they’ll spend eternity separated from God: “For the wages of sin is death;” “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.” (Romans 6:23, Revelation 20:14) That’s exactly what God DOESN’T want, which is why Jesus, God the Son, came down from heaven, died for our sins, and rose again.
People can be stubborn and unwilling to accept the truth, but a life-threatening event like this virus may convince them of their own mortality and the realities of eternity. Jude 23 says, “And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire;” This passage tells us clearly that God does at times use fear to bring people to Christ and pull them from the fire of hell. So yes, God is very good. He may not give us all we want in this earthly, temporary life, but He has provided for us to have the joy of eternal life with Him.
If you know Jesus as Saviour, are you more inclined to spend time in God’s Word than before? To pray? To care more about others? To talk about Jesus with people who don’t know Him? Maybe you can think of a way to help someone in need at this time and use that labor of love to share the gospel. If your church is closed due to the virus, you can go to www.clevelandbaptist.org and click “Media” to watch the live-streamed service on Sundays at 11 am and 6 pm and Wednesdays at 7 pm. And if you aren’t sure you’ll go to heaven, please go to the website, click “Helpful Links”, then “How Do I Go to Heaven?”
Brian Miller
4/2/2020
Cleveland Baptist Church 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 216/671-2822