Isaiah 26:20
Go, my people, enter your rooms
and shut the doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until his wrath has passed by.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Isaiah 55:6
seek the Lord while he may be found;call on him while he is near
Yesterday, our state issued a stay at home order! No one expected something like this to happen in our lifetime! It’s scary! About four years ago, there was a time when our family had to stay at home! We really wanted to get out and do things together and one of them was to go to church! We depended on someone to get us everywhere we needed to go! So, with no transportation, we were stuck at home! During that time, we found so many ways to have fun close to home! It was a blessing that we could watch services online! We watched all three services! I looked for a way to have a children’s church with my kids at home too! The most wonderful opportunity happened, our church opened another campus close to us! We jumped in with both feet with our kids! It was close enough for us to take two trips to get everyone to church! They were just as excited as we were to finally go! We always said, we are not going to miss a day because no one knows the future or when we might not be able to go again! We thought it might be transportation but not a virus! We can make our plans and think of all that we want to do. But time doesn’t stand still for us! (James 4:13-14). Time is short and we didn’t want to lose any more time!
But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
James 4:13-14
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes
All through history God has shown us how He has everything under control, and as I search in the bible, Isaiah 26 says a lot concerning us today! We have nothing to fear! It’s going to be rough for awhile, but Isaiah 26 all we need to do is stay inside for awhile! We are in His hands of protection and He won’t let his children be snatched away (John 10:28). When you love God, you also love your neighbor as yourself and that means, All people! In Romans 13:10 NIV, “love does no harm to your neighbor! The virus has a cloaking device spreading around from people who appear healthy! So, even though we miss doing life together in person and long to do what we did before the virus snuck in, God wants us to love others by staying home! This is a way we can prepare and strengthen our relationships with our family! We need to Keep our lamps full by fixing our eyes on Jesus. To continue on even when it’s hard with an unwavering foundation standing firm on Jesus, and we will not be moved during this storm! Our love for God and other will draw people into knowing Jesus!
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
1 John 4:7-12
Dear, friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
This is great!
This is so great and so comforting to hear in a time like this that we are experiencing. In the first scripture that you used , I realized to myself as a I was reading it was not only do we want to hide ourselves away from the situation, its still going to be there. I also thought, that I sometimes want to do this aside from the pandemic. Sometimes in life, you just want to be alone, and to just have quiet, one on one time with Jesus.
It seems now in this time of our world that the unseen and faith is all that is getting some of through this. Some people are frantically buying up all the supplies they “think” they “might” need. Then there are some of us that are relying on God to provide for us and when we are in need, to fall upon him with that very need.
And I read somewhere that when you make plans for tomorrow or the future, that is having Faith that you’ll even wake up tomorrow. Michelle you’re right, we’re not promised tomorrow, so we must savor every moment we can get with the ones we love. And just because we are physically and socially distant, doesn’t mean we have to be emotionally or spiritually distant.
I’m truly blessed to call you a sister in Christ and I love you so much. Thank you for writing such beautiful and scripture-filled insight and light in a darkening world.
Being without a vehicle sure can be tough! I’m so glad you at least got to enjoy a little church before this virus thing hit! Our church is going to do a Drive-Up Service in the morning. We all stay in our cars as our preacher preaches. I’m not sure how this will exactly work, as I have never been to one before, but I think there will be speakers, so everyone can hear.
Thanks for sharing your lovely thoughts in this post. Stay safe and God Bless! 🙂