Pondering the Pestilence and Praying
Fifteen of our All Saints Bible Study group participated in a Webex meeting this past Tuesday with Fr. Haridimos. † Below are some of the things we discussed. We started with prayer and chatted about people’s routines and how they were finding solace in Christ. We read the passage: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 St. Timothy 1:7). We talked about what this time means to us and the world.
In pondering about God’s purposes, we admit that our suppositions are miserably inadequate, “For who has known the mind of the LORD?” (Romans 11:34). Also, during this time of suffering and death, we reaffirm that the LORD is “longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
First, we realize and accept that the universe is not just material. The cosmos is not just a bunch of atoms bouncing off each other, randomly. No, there is a design and order to it stemming from the spiritual realm. Just as there are physical laws, there are spiritual laws. As our Creed reads: “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.”
It’s easier to see how things unfold in the visible world. For example, if someone binge drinks one night, he will lose co-ordination, become sick, may pass out, and in the morning, he will have a hangover. All of this is scientifically measurable. And yet, drunk driving cases still rise. This points to a problem coming from the invisible world.
Yet in the invisible world, it’s often harder to see cause and effect. Sometimes measurement is confused, and people mix up the reasons behind certain outcomes. Spiritual discernment is necessary.
For example, it’s hard to measure hate and feelings of resentment, but we see the results: culture wars, violence, intolerance, division. It’s hard to measure lust and sexual impurity, yet we see the results: broken relationships, exploitation, sorrow, pain, and remorse. It’s hard to measure how much we’ve lost faith in God, yet we see the results everywhere: moral truth is endlessly debated, the Church is mocked, interest in the paranormal is pervasive.
Now, we can’t say for sure how far we’ve drifted away from obeying God – compared to previous generations – but we know we’ve drifted.
In St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians (6:7-8), we read: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.”
We may ask ourselves: What seeds are we sowing and what fruits are we reaping? Our thoughts are seeds. Our words are seeds. Our actions are seeds. What seeds do we sow with our hearts, minds, and bodies?
People ask outright: Is COVID-19 God’s punishment? Yes, but not like some think. Just as there is a material “fabric” to the universe, there is a “moral fabric” which, when stretched, springs back. God’s not coming in and smacking us down as retaliation for what we’ve done. Rather, He’s allowing for the consequences of our disobedience and transgressions to take their natural course and spring back at us as judgement. These consequences are the result of our interactions with the seen and unseen world. (Whether released by human activity or not, in the case of the Coronavirus, we see how the spiritual and material realms are interrelated in the whole of Creation. *)
Note: There are many who ascribe different origins of COVID-19. Some see it as the work of the devil, some see it stemming from human negligence, others see it as a humanly created “bio-weapon,” and still others see it as revenge from “mother nature” for the folly of human activity. Whatever the origins are, God is allowing this pestilence and it’s up to us to choose how we will react. Will we learn from it and seek God and His ways, or will we not? ‡
Ideally, God allows this kind of justice as a “wakeup call” for us to examine and correct ourselves. Each person has the opportunity to ask: “In what way does my life need to be set right, and be put back in order? If many of us ask ourselves these questions, and search deep within our hearts to find God’s law written there, this is good news.
Before we go any further, let us understand that not all accidents and natural disasters are due to God’s judgement. Recall the tragic event Christ talks about in St. Luke’s gospel (13:4), about the tower of Siloam falling on 18 people and killing them? At the time, everyone believed their death was divine justice on sinners. Yet Christ firmly denied that their suffering was the result of God’s judgement.
Even so, the Bible records how God allows – and doesn’t prevent – pestilence, famine, weather, and war to befall people and lands, as ways of dealing with sin and disobedience.
And so we may ask: Should God have prevented the Coronavirus from coming to our land? Were we obedient and moral enough to earn an exemption from this kind of pestilence?
Is the current pandemic intended by God for our correction or for a testing of our faith? Only He knows. Should we pray that He stops the pandemic by strengthening our immunity and guiding our doctors to find an effective treatment or vaccine? Sure, we can always pray. It all depends on what’s better for our salvation. If it’s better for God to end this pandemic quickly, He’ll do it. If it’s better that it lasts, He’ll let it last.
This is a time of prayer and repentance. Reciting the Divine Liturgy: “Let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.”
Here’s the final line of St. Ephraim (303-373) the Syrian’s Lenten Prayer: “Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen.”
† If you wish to join us for our next Webex Bible Study, please email us at:
biblestudy@allsaintstoronto.ca
* “A very…small fraction of viruses…are associated with disease of any kind. The vast majority of Earth’s viruses are critical for keeping Earth’s bacteria and single-cellular organisms in check. Without viruses, Earth would support life, but only of the bacterial or single-celled organism variety. So, viruses actually make the diversity of more complex life possible.” – See Viruses, Mosquitoes, and Suffering: Bad or Good? By Dr. Anjeanette Roberts 14-DEC-2017
‡ The question of whether we learn from this pestilence is the topic of the next blog entry.