Where is God in a the Pandemic?

Psalms 22:3

My husband and I have been married over twice as long as we were single.    I often joke around that I finished raising him while I was raising our four kids, but, in truth, we both finished growing up together.  Like all couples we went through a period of adjustment and compromise.  Now we can finish each other’s sentences – most of the time, but that wasn’t always the case.  We learned early in our marriage that it was going to take a great deal of communication and deliberate effort to take all the traditions, expectations and beliefs we each brought from our own childhood to determine how we were going to merge them into our own family dynamic.

We began our sophomore year in college as newlyweds and added household chores to our list of responsibilities. One evening we wee kind of cooking dinner together.  He was making his mom’s chili on one side of the stove while I was making my mom’s chili on the other.  Since that is way too much food for two people, I soon decided that if I would just be willing to eat his mom’s recipe, I could go study.  “Dad’s chili” is still one of our family’s favorite dishes, and our grown children usually ask him to make it when they visit.

Forty years later we have reached a chapter in our lives where we have been practicing these family expectations so long we no longer notice the little things that we take for granted. There is nothing like change, however, to open your eyes. 

My husband comes from a family of four boys.  After falling in the toilet in the middle of the night a few too many times, I convinced my new husband that he needed to remember to put the seat down.  No problem.  Except for the fact that his job has required him to travel over 40% to 60% of the time. That is a lot of time in hotel rooms where he was alone and nobody cared if he put the seat down.  His habits have slowly changed, and I find the seat up more often than not.  My expectations are still the same, but I am realizing I notice the status of that seat much more keenly now than I did when it was routinely in place.  

I know you don’t really care if the toilet seat is up or down at my house, but that isn’t the point.  The pandemic has forced an entire world to experience changes we never dreamed would be necessary. In dealing with all the uncertainty around us, what is most important to me may not be at all important to you – like our toilet seat. One thing is for certain – EVERYONE in the world is experiencing changes to one degree or another.  It is a very unsettling feeling that has completely rocked our lives and made us keenly aware of all that we have lost. 

PRACTICAL APPLICATION FOR YOU:

1. Take time to examine the adjustments in your life.  They may be inconvenient.  You may or may not agree with them.  Ask God to open your eyes to His handiwork in your life.
2. Keep a list of the things you are thankful for and add at least one thing to it every day. 
3. Thank God for the things on your list.  You may even want to write your prayers out so you can go back and look at them later.
4. Write out verses on 3×5 cards that encourage you to praise and honor Him.  Post them around your house in key places.

Remember, God inhabits the praises of His people.  When we praise and thank Him in private, we reap those benefits in solitude.  When we give Him the glory and honor Him in public, we invite others to see His blessings and feel His presence, and THAT is something to be thankful for!

Our first reaction is naturally fear and frustration. It is easy to dwell on the negative and wonder where God is in all the chaos and suffering. At the same time a verse keeps going through my head.  “Our God inhabits the praises of his people.”  We find God when we praise and worship him.  Our peace comes when we focus on Him instead of the world.  We find joy when we consciously look for those blessings. Even in the midst of a pandemic we can find reasons to praise and thank Him, but we must make deliberate choices if this is to happen.