I'm Struggling with Discouragement Because of the Worldwide Health Crisis
A lot of stuff is really going bad. I remembered studying history and there's the Spanish Flu, I remembered SARS came during the 2000s, and then this is my first time to really encounter a quarantine. I was really getting mad at mankind since I tend to believe that plagues are automatically God's judgment on the wicked. A lot of stuff has slowed down. Why am I discouraged? A lot of my discouragement stems from temporal pleasures. Right now, I even am tempted to ask God or even offend Him every minute or second when I say, "Does God know what He's doing? Why did He allow this?" Jesus told the disciplines not to be too concerned about the Tower of Siloam. Instead, Jesus warned that except they repent then they will perish.
It's really stressful when I can't go out. Then I think about it that there are times I feel like, "Woe is me!" I forget that I'm not the first person to feel pain or the only person who feels pain. Then I found an article from Dispatches of the Global Village that talked about Christians handling quarantine. Here are words of encouragement that I could take:
We aren’t the first Christians to face a global pandemic. In fact, now is a good time to learn how we might deal with this world-being-shut-down crisis. Those in the early church faced two life-threatening epidemics within its first 200 years. The first was in 165 A.D., in which up to one-third of Roman citizens died, and the second was in 251 A.D.
My point in noting these early Christians is for one basic reason: that we will choose hope over confusion, humility over arrogance, empathy over self-interest, faith over fear. So that in recognizing our frail humanity, we will welcome the pervading presence and life of the Spirit to assert God’s will over our own distractions, providing us with a different way in which we view and make sense of what for too many is an existential reality.
Then, there was also the issue of Charles Spurgeon when he faced the 1854 cholera outbreak in England. Spurgeon was fortunate enough that God didn't allow his part of the community to be quarantined. I was thinking about how Spurgeon himself didn't allow discouragement to crush him during the cholera outbreak. Instead, Spurgeon and his fellow Christians helped others in need. I admit that I'm tempted to complain, murmur, and despair. Would that be pleasing to God whenever I remember the number of times that I act like a toddler whenever even the smallest trials come? Am I displeasing God whenever I wish somebody wicked dead rather than that wicked person repent?
I noticed a lot of times I tend to say, "It's never going to end! It's going to be there forever!" whenever something goes wrong in my life. Did the epidemic in Spurgeon's day last forever? If all worldly hope is lost then am I being brought to trials so I'd see worldly pleasures are fleeting? Isn't there a greater hope than this world that's destined to perish? Wouldn't it be that there's the opportunity to show that I'm not despairing by God's grace or am I trusting myself only to get discouraged? I'm discouraged because some people just refuse to submit to authority regarding the quarantine rules. Other wicked men want to take advantage of disasters for their own personal benefit. I just want God to strike them dead but shouldn't I pray for their repentance? God has been patient with me so why am I not patient with other people?
The worldwide crisis is something. However, I need to keep in mind that Satan must get God's permission first. If God decides to remove the hedge of protection even from Christians in the worldwide health crisis then so be it. Job acknowledged that he came into the world with nothing and he will carry nothing out. So why am I getting discouraged when everything is just temporal? Why am I getting discouraged when God's timing is better than mine? God doesn't allow Satan to wander around without a good reason. Just think how often has God allowing Satan to do evil only bring the latter closer to defeat.
The worldwide crisis is something. However, I need to keep in mind that Satan must get God's permission first. If God decides to remove the hedge of protection even from Christians in the worldwide health crisis then so be it. Job acknowledged that he came into the world with nothing and he will carry nothing out. So why am I getting discouraged when everything is just temporal? Why am I getting discouraged when God's timing is better than mine? God doesn't allow Satan to wander around without a good reason. Just think how often has God allowing Satan to do evil only bring the latter closer to defeat.
God bless!
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