We've Got Problems.

We have health problems, after all, this is a pandemic. We have economic problems, evidenced by the stock market declining and unemployment rising. We have supply and demand problems, evidenced by empty shelves where hamburger and toilet paper once sat. We have boredom problems (see social media platforms for further information), social isolation and re-entry problems (evidenced by the confusion you will meet when you venture out), and the problem of not living in the here and now, as evidenced by everyone, everywhere, asking all the time, “When is this going to end?”

In addition, we have a spiritual problem. When forced to realize what has always been true, that we are not in control of our health, our financial well being, the assurance of everyday tangible things, and freedoms we have always held, we come face to face with a measure of unrest. Rather than asking God to fix us (and our prideful, control-hungry, self-sufficient mentality), we ask Him to fix our lesser problems, or make them go away. We want a vaccine. (Most of us anyway). We want the stock market to rebound, unemployment to dip, and toilet paper lining the shelves...tomorrow. We want to be entertained so that we can forget our problems (at least until they go away) and we want to bypass the complications of living in a world where what we do impacts our neighbor.

We can pray about our lesser problems. The bible says-

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians :6,7 (ESV)

I am all for a vaccine. I am all for the stock market rebounding and unemployment dropping. Who better to petition than the One who controls all things? I am grateful for the bits of humor passed along by way of social media, which can lighten the sometimes heavy moments of this pandemic. In the same breath I am convicted that a heightened awareness of the uncertainties of this life can either lead me to despair, or to a renewed sense of peace as I release the unknown into the hands of the One who knows the beginning from the end of all things. Until I am willing to let Him work on me, my problems will not go away. The vaccine may come, the economy may turn around, but unless I allow Him to do His work in me, there will remain a “grasping” for a guarantee that at last, there is “stability”. There are of course, few guarantees for this lifetime. The promises we most want (comfort, happiness, fullness) are not given us for this lifetime, but for the next. Our greatest problem is that we are not worthy of the glorious life to come. But the greatest gift, the gift of salvation through Christ, fixes that problem for all who are willing to accept it. When we remember that our greatest problem is no longer a problem, our lesser problems feel less weighty. We don’t know when (or if) a vaccine will come. We don’t know when toilet paper will again line the shelves, and the economy will make a glorious rebound. We do know this, it will end. The best of times here as well as the most difficult. Someday, Christ will return to claim His own. When we reach the other side we will not be asking “When is this going to end?” because we won’t want it to end, and we have been promised that it won’t. May God be granted full access to the recesses of our heart, that He might complete the good work He has begun in us. And may we trust the One who is alone capable of fixing our bigger problem, with the smaller problems of the day.