By SirKay & Jeremiah.
And it came to pass in the year of the Coronavirus, two thousand and twenty years after the death of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, that there arose an evil tiding of a strange and deadly pestilence, in the first month of the year.
And so it was that by the third month of the year, the pestilence was over the face of the whole earth. In every land and every tongue, there was not a place on the face of the earth that the pestilence was not. And because both men and women were afflicted and died, the kings of the nation made a decree that no man should depart from the place of his abode.
And so, it was that everyman abode in his house and did not go out. And there was lamentation in the land because of the multitude that has been slain by reason of the pestilence. And it came to pass that both man and woman, old and young did the kings of the nation make to cover their faces as often as they left the place of their habitation.
So sore was the pestilence that men began to cry unto God for the sore affliction whereby men were afflicted by the pestilence. And men began to look up to physicians that were wise and skilful to make medicine whereby men may be cured of the grievous pestilence, and none was found until the eleventh month of the year!
That’s how the year 2020 could read in a scriptural text if one is to summarise the year. Many of us probably do catch ourselves reflecting back on how ‘this time last year’, we were totally oblivious to what the year had in store for us all. Apart from a minute number of people that profited from the misery and opportunities the pandemic created, nobody will miss the year 2020. Like an unwanted and annoying guest, “good riddance 2020” to quote a youth.
But, like in all things, lessons are there to be learnt about the year; with the many challenges it threw up, there are certainly a number of lessons to be learnt.
One of the first lessons is the uncertainty of life.
A lot of people had plans for 2020. It’s good to have plans, in fact, it’s important to have plans, but according to Proverbs 16:9,
“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.”
All the plans made in 2019 in preparation for 2020, went up in smokes. Hence, there’s a need to learn to depend on God, hand over our lives and plans to him. God is the ultimate shortcut because he helps you avoid all the dead-ends and roadblocks. If up until now you’ve been very independent, trusting in your mental astuteness and ability to follow through on your plans, you need to learn how to depend on God for unravelling the details of your plans as you submit them to him.
The second lesson is that the world system is fragile.
It took this minute virus just a few months to upend the economies of the world. If your trust, confidence and reliance are on the world system, by now you should realise how fragile and undependable the systems of the world are. If your heart is deeply entrenched in it, you might end up with a broken heart as many already have.
Every worldly system is designed and manned by a man. The NHS hospitals are operated by men, who themselves are susceptible to the ailments they treat, and recently we’ve seen the NHS overwhelmed in many counties, revealing the vulnerability of earthly systems.
There is also the lesson of the value of the freedom we enjoyed pre-COVID-19.
Freedom to gather, freedom to preach, freedom to visit, freedom to travel – all seeming so precious now as we see these freedoms slipping through our grasp. As the saying goes, we shouldn’t take things for granted, because a time will come when such opportunities will elude us.
There are neighbours to befriend and show care. There are friends too and colleagues to spend time with; there are aged parents that crave our time. What about precious fellowship time to treasure – not dashing off after service but taking time to smile and extend the hand of fellowship to someone. Zoom ‘fellowship’, as incongruous as that might sound, has shown us nothing can replace face to face, heartfelt warm fellowship.
On the flip side, there’s also the lesson we learnt about the need to fully embrace and utilize the opportunities that technology presents.
We’ve all learnt new things.
This pandemic has changed the world the way we know it. Experts have said the world that we knew in 2019 is forever gone. That’s a scary thought. Who knows what the year 2021 has in store. But the truth of the matter is you don’t need to know. As you don’t need to know your way to anywhere these days once you can get a Uber, in the same manner, you don’t need to know what 2021 has in store, all you need to know is He that is bringing 2021 out of His store, the Lord Jesus Christ. I may not know what tomorrow holds, but he who holds tomorrow holds my hands.
What lessons have you learnt from the year 2020?
Editors
Let us know in the comment section below.
2 replies on “2020AD: The Year of Tears”
I learnt a lesson 2020 that many church leaders do not bother if an anti Christian makes nonsense law, that mask must be warm to church even though the distance of 2 metres already exist, why not even make it optimal for the safe of those children of God and their faith in God? Jesus Christ did say oh yea of little faith. the house of God is a healing, holy ground, God who formed and made all things is not a masquerade I don’t think that God want His children to wear mask to church to serve Him. He is powerful God. All who calls upon the name of Jesus Christ will be saved. Amen ?.
Thank you Victoria for you response. Your observation and sentiments are understandable, but we must realise we live in a country governed by laws made by men and the bible encourages us to be law abiding as long as the law does not contradicts God’s law. In Matthew 17: 24 – 27, we read of an incidence that Jesus accosted Peter on the issue of tax. Jesus knew he did not have to pay tax, but he felt it was better to avoid offence, hence he asked Peter to pay for both of them. In Romans chapter 13, from verse 1, Paul reiterates the necessity of being subject to higher powers or rulers. The truth of the matter is that not everyone going to church lives by faith, and if someone that has no faith contracts covid in a church building, it will give a bad name to other churches or children of God walking by faith.In Matthew 8:4, after healing a leper, Jesus asked him to still go and show himself to the priests according to the law of Moses to confirm his healing before going about to share his testimony or going back to his family. It is important that we as Christians are law abiding in order not to attract negative attention to ourselves. So the rule of thumb is, if the law of man does not contradicts the law of God, then, for conscience sake, we should abide, and that includes wearing of mask in church.