
Just recently, I ordered a tank of cooking fuel and topped off our heating fuel tanks. Both of the delivery guys left the bill in my door. This is not normal practice. Normally, they knock, I answer, they hand me the bill, I pass them a check.
I caught the cooking fuel delivery guy at the bottom of the porch steps.
“Don’t you want your check?” I asked.
He shrugged, looking totally deflated. “I guess they want you to send it in,” he said, and off he shuffled.
Cooking fuel delivery guy is a sociable guy. Our habit is to make small talk while I write the check and the day seems cheery somehow because of it. That day, cooking fuel delivery guy looked totally defeated.
It was much the same with heating fuel delivery guy. I spoke to him through my window. He didn’t look near as dejected as his counterpart, but his smile was a little sad as he said it’d be best if I sent the payment in.
Isolation is hard on people. The little things we take for granted daily, such as passing a check to someone without the fear that the ink is poison, feels like a thing of yesteryear. My heart especially goes out to people who lived relatively isolated lives prior to all of this craziness. I think of the single person who counts on chats at the coffee shop and the elderly person who seeks camaraderie through senior centers. We have our nice, little 5 family, so named by the girls. But what of those whose outlets have been shut off?
Isolation also made me think of something, or rather Someone, contrary: Jesus. He went in when others went out. Think about it: He touched lepers. Lepers! Who does that? He didn’t take leprosy, He gave healing. His actions were so contrary to what we’re being asked to do today. Do I understand? Yes, I understand. People are getting sick. People are dying. But people have always been getting sick. And people have always been dying. Do we really need a pandemic to point that out? Do we need a pandemic to appreciate our freedom to worship and gather together? Do we need a pandemic to appreciate the sharing of a meal with family and friends? Do we need a pandemic to appreciate a hug or the simple act of handing over a check without fear that it possesses some contagious disease? Do we need a pandemic for people to be kind, and do selfless acts, and give of their own abundance?
This may be the beginning of a series of bad things to come. There may be more plagues, more pestilence, more outrageous things happening in the weather and in the natural world. Covid-19 may be part of our dress rehearsal. Are we covered with the armor of God? Are we wearing the helmet of salvation, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and are our feet ready to go and share the Gospel? Are we taking up the shield of faith and using the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God? (Ephesians 6:14-17). Are we covered by the blood of Jesus?
Please, DO NOT FEAR.
This may also be the beginning of things too wonderful for us to imagine. God will outdo any evil thing the devil devises with His goodness. I am telling you, there are good things that are going to come at the end of this battle. And as battles continue to come, so will the victories. God does not know how to lose. Remember the idiocy of satan? He did everything he could to destroy our Savior–he even killed Him. But you know what he discovered? God’s resurrecting power is greater than death. GOD IS GREATER, period.
Join me today in the epic challenge to turn aside from all negative voices that incur fear and hear only the voice of the LORD which inspires faith. His report is the only one we should be putting our faith in (Isaiah 53:1). He earned our trust. He beat death with an ugly stick. Jesus willingly suffered in very specific ways and places to deliver us from very specific curses. (Again, I strongly recommend Larry Huch’s book, Free at Last: Breaking the Cycle of Family Curses). We don’t need to struggle. We need only believe and speak His Word.
I don’t know why, but songs and choruses from yesteryear are coming to visit me. This is the song that’s going through my head today and I think it’s perfectly suited for today’s content. If the music isn’t your style, please at least take the words to heart.
Part of the Bridge:
God is greater (than the wisest man)
Greater (than the power of sin)
God is greater (than the gates of hell)
Greater (than any tongue can tell)
God is greater (than the richest king)
Greater (than anything!)
Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
🙂 Let’s expect a supernatural releasing of God’s power in our lives and in our world today.
Wonderful reminder! Thanks!
LikeLike
Your encouragement to trust in God who always has the victory is so refreshing in the face of all the negativity going around lately!
LikeLike
It is my sincere pleasure to be of some encouragement and a refreshing to you 🙂 .
LikeLike