Cyber-Discipleship

We are living not only in interesting times but uncertain times. Businesses are closing and laying people off until the Coronavirus pandemic is over. Then, there is a question of if they can reopen after it is over. Hospitals are becoming overwhelmed. People are called to shelter in place and enact ‘social distancing’. Workplaces are activating business continuity plans by having employees work from home. All of this is being done in the name of safety and in an attempt to protract the virus’s effect. Many are saying that they’ve never seen anything like this before. They are calling these times, unprecedented.

Though these times may be new to us, they are not unprecedented.
They have happened before. Our ancestors saw them with smallpox and the Black
Plague. While these times are new to us and may have caught us off guard, they
did not take God by surprise. (For more on this, check out my blog, “God and the Coronavirus”.) What is His message to us? We are not to be afraid for He is
with us. This message will only appeal to those who are with Him because those
are the only ones to whom it is true.

The Bible records many times in Israel’s history that the Lord had
to encourage His people in times of trouble. There were times when He told them
to ‘fear not for I am with you’. Other times, He merely demonstrated His power
to show His presence. One such time was the parting of the Red Sea, as
recounted in Exodus 14.

As the Hebrews marched from Egypt to the Red Sea, they later
learned that they were being pursued by Pharaoh and the Egyptian army. Fearful,
they approached Moses and asked why he brought them out there to die. “Were
there not graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the
wilderness?” Moses tried to comfort the people by telling them that the
Egyptians they feared today would never be seen again. Then the Lord told Moses
to command the people to go forward and to stretch out his staff and divide the
Sea. The Sea parted. The people crossed. The Egyptians drowned. That day, God
gained glory. The Hebrews feared the Lord.

Isaiah 7 recounts an attempted overthrow of Jerusalem. The Lord
had to comfort His people during the attack on the city, which was led by the
northern kingdom, Israel, and their neighbor, Damascus. The city was
surrounded. Supplies were cut off. King Ahaz was assured defeat was inevitable.
(Put yourself in their shoes. Can you imagine how you would have felt having
your city/town surrounded by an army that meant you harm, and no one was
willing to help you? Can you imagine the fear, the uncertainty? Even the king
felt defeated.) Isaiah went to King Ahaz and told him to be strong because the
Lord was with him and that he could ask for a sign. Adopting false humility,
Ahaz refused to ask for a sign. So, Isaiah gave him a sign anyway:

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and
shall call His name Immanuel.^[i] 15 Curds and
honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶ For before the Child shall know to refuse the
evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both
her kings. ¹⁷ The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and
your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day
that Ephraim departed from Judah.”

The child was to be named Immanuel. The child’s name and presence
were physical proof that God was with them. He was fighting for them. What a
comfort this should have been to Ahaz.

Today’s believers have that same comfort. We have the Holy Spirit
living within us. He is God with us. Paul reminds us that “God has not given us
a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind (1 Timothy 1:7).” Again
in Philippians 4:6-7, Paul instructs us not to worry or stress out over
anything, “but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
make [our] request known to God; and the peace of God will guard [our] hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus.” (I’ll write more about God’s peace next week.)

History has shown time and time again that God has been there for His
people. He has protected Israel
though many have tried to eradicate her. The church still exists though many
have tried to bring about her demise. Nations have come and gone. Viruses and
plagues have come and gone. Disasters have come and gone. The one thing that
has remained constant: God, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He is Jehovah, the Great I AM. He is the Ancient of Days. He is
sovereign. He is in control. He is the Lover and Pursuer of our souls. He is a
God of grace and mercy. He is the same; yesterday, today, and forever. He does
not change. He will be with us. He is a Sure God in these unsure times. He is a
God of consistency in times that are ever changing.

Turn to Him. He is a sure bet. He is a firm
Foundation in unstable times.