As this coronavirus has locked many people, including myself into social isolation, I have taken it to do a lot more writing than I normally do. So I want to talk about a few topics, hence the title of this post.
First thing that I want to share is that there is a holy God who has it within himself to do incredible things. With the uncertainty of this virus going around, my hopes and prayers are with many people, including doctors, nurses, the elderly, and loved ones stuck at home.
Since I’ve been spending my days working on the computer, I’ve seen plenty of Facebook posts. A lot of Christian Facebook posts claiming healing in Jesus’ name. And that is great. To God be all the glory. Although it is my desire for everyone to get well, my prayer is that God would make himself known in this time. Because whether it’s this or something else, we will face death at some point.
David Brainerd
Now, who is David Brainerd? I’ve heard his name a lot, but didn’t know much about him. Until I found a video on Amazon Prime about him. He was a missionary in the 1700s to the Delaware Indian community in New Jersey. I purchased the diary of David Brainerd as I’ve heard of this man’s approach to prayer. And wanted to share it with you.
I started reading it yesterday and was amazed by his conversion story. He was so tormented by the idea of relying fully on the mercy of a holy God. I was reading it an it was like my own conversion story.
For now, I want to share why I connected Brainerd to the coronavirus. David Brainerd died at the age of 29. He spent 8+ years preaching the message to the Native people and he died. We are sharing Bible verses to avoid illness and believing that we will be protected by it. David Brainerd spent his days preaching and praying and he was not spared the illness which lead to his death.
Now, I know that this may seem like I’m unbiblical or lacking faith, but I can’t help but wonder what God thinks about it. The other day I wrote a post about people using a verse and claiming it for themselves with no regard for the original person to whom it’s written. We love preachers that say, “If there’s a Goliath in front of you, God must believe that there is a David inside of you.” Completely abandoning the reality that David fought Goliath because Goliath was blaspheming the God of Israel.
(My Best Friend’s Wife Wrote Me A Love Letter)
Anyway… I simply wanted to share that God loves you. No matter what happens with this virus or another one of hundreds of things that can potentially kill you, God’s love is supreme.
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Lots of people are quoting Psalm 91 and it is a great psalm, I love it. But, like you, I believe we can succomb to pestilence just like the rest of the world. I believe it isn’t so much not dying or suffering that God has promised, but he gives us the strength and “how-to” to go through it. I think of an old man that just died here, not a Christian but from a different religion. Rather than easing the old man’s suffering, his children said “He is going to die anyway, so why bother giving him food, medicine, etc.” I would hope as believers in Jesus, we would turn with compassion on our elders and in our conduct and attitude, the Light of Jesus would be portrayed.
I just read an article a few days ago about how the early church grew. During the time of the Roman plagues, it was the Christians who were willing to die by caring for their Roman idol worshipping neighbours. Many Chrisitans also died from the plague because, rather than fleeing those that were ill, they took care of them. It was through these sacrifical efforts and the love of believers that the Christian church flourished.
Perhaps it is not so much in the dying or not dying that we live, but in how we walk through it.