The Coronavirus is meddling. Not only is my grocery store not providing what I have come to rely on, the Y is closed, the library is closed, our church is meeting online, doctor appointments are canceled.

And the mission organization we serve with has prohibited all domestic and international travel, as well as group meetings. And encouraged all personal travel to follow the same protocol.

Meddling!

The new normal for now.

I’m left with a choice.

Just like the people of Israel on their way to the Red Sea, I can grumble. Six times in Exodus 15 and 16, a form of the word grumble appears. Six times!

As this new reality is unfolding, I found myself grumbling (maybe more than six times). I didn’t like this new normal.

Grumbling is manifested in questions. Grumbling is manifested in demanding prayers. Grumbling is manifested in impatience.

Then I was caught up short by the words of an online friend, Ruth Chou Simons. She reminded me that God has not deserted us. His Words are still truth!

“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Exodus 3:14

These words are God’s response to Moses who asked, “Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways,” Exodus 33:13. (Bolding mine)

I was challenged; my grumbling began to dissipate as I practiced her suggestion filling in this blank:

I need God’s presence more than I need ______________________.

How would you fill it in?
More than I need control.
More than I need the fulfillment of my plans.
More than I need to feel settled.
More than I need to meet my new grand-baby.
More than I need _____________________.

I also hunger for God’s peace. John 14:27 declares, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” I am offered the gift of peace even in the midst. Am I grumbling or accepting?

In many various ways, I need God’s provision. Beyond my need for physical provision, I need the provision of community, of friends who are walking the same path. “In your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.” Psalm 68:10. Although there are different communities swirling around me, the community that is most present is our neighbors. We’ve declared, we’re in this together.

God’s offerings are not changed because of the Coronavirus. His presence, his peace, and his provisions are all available.

I’m left with a choice.

And it leads me to this question, what can I give back to God?

My remembering:
He loves, “His banner over me is love” Song of Solomon 2:4
He controls, “he awoke and rebuked the wind … ‘Peace! Be still!’ … there was great calm”
Mark 4:39
He knows, “For I know the plans I have … plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
He shepherds, “The LORD is my shepherd, I have everything I need.” Psalm 23:1

My trust: Each day I’m asking, God, what would it look like to trust your Word today? I’m finding him faithful to answer.

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe me;
for he wrote of me.”
John 5:46

“Jesus answered answered them,
‘This is the work of God;
that you believe in him whom he has sent.'”
John 5:29

Copyright, March 2020, Susan Tell