The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Glory of God
The other day I found myself praying, almost automatically,
that God would be glorified through this pandemic.
I stopped myself. What was I actually saying, asking?
I don’t know, so I won’t pray it again until I figure it
out, which is doubtful.
We all want this disease to, well, die. To stop. To
disappear. To end its killing spree of 54,000 plus in this country (is that
possible in two months?) and over 200,000 in the world (obviously much more
since numbers from some countries cannot be trusted; we’re looking at you, China.)
That I pray, fervently. I hope we all do.
But for God to be glorified? How is that even possible in
the midst of this uncertain biological force? The thing I find the most scary,
maddening, defiant, I don’t know the word, about this disease is its unpredictability.
Yes, it’s going to affect elderly and sick more; in the county I have an
apartment (I own a home in the adjoining county), four have died and all were
70 or older. In my home county no one has died, yet. Diabetes, obesity, and
cardiovascular disease are companions of Covid. But many “get it” and feel
nothing or very little; some get it and feel desperately ill; some die at every
age. We’ll never know, in my opinion, how many actually had the virus in their
bodies. Its unpredictability is accompanied by its virality (a word my computer tells me does not exist).
I have tried to be good and obedient, wearing a mask,
staying away from people, keeping clean. But I walk every day (by myself), have
visited public places briefly, and go to my office, which may or may not be a
hot bed of germs. So far, I’m healthy, and do not have the comorbidity factors.
And, like 40% of the population, I know no one personally who has had it, at
least not verified.
All that said, how is God to be glorified by this
unpredictable, highly contagious, not-yet-understood “bug?” I think the first
question is really, what do we mean by God being glorified? Is that even a
legitimate prayer, at any time, much less now?
We can pray it as an orientation of our own minds and
spirits, but not as a request that needs to be granted. God is glorified. Period. Martin Luther
King, Jr., said that the arc of history bends toward justice; while there may be
truth in that, the real arc of history goes in a straight trajectory to the
glory of God. On a deeper level, though, I’m not sure we understand the glory
of God. We may think it’s people singing praises to Him, to people affirming
God. God doesn’t need us affirming or
praising Him to be glorified. If we do, wonderful.
But if God is God, the ultimate, supreme being, the Creator,
Sustainer, Redeemer, Renewer, King, and all other aspects of His being, He is
hardly dependent on us or our efforts or prayers to be glorified. He is even
less dependent on a microscopic entity that has seemingly random effects on
human bodies.
And need I say it, we may fall into the trap of thinking God
is some mercurial, tribal being who needs our praise to feel good about
Himself. God being glorified is not about God’s ego. I fear the limitations of
our human minds might lead us into that line of thinking. God’s glory is about
justice, righteousness, right-ness of the universe and so much more, of which we are
beneficiaries.
So, what do we make of the virus? Is it just one of those
things that biologically happens in a world of natural laws, so be it, deal
with it? Is God acting like the Deists proposed, setting up a system that acts
on its own without His interference? What is God doing through this pandemic?
I have no idea. I don’t know if we can know. It might be the
height of arrogance to think we can.
Perhaps what we mean if we pray God be gloried through this
pandemic is that humans align their understanding and attitudes, their
cognitions and emotions and wills, regarding God’s control of the universe and
our lives because of it.
And certainly, we are commanded to pray that the disease
ends and that the sufferers are healed. There is no mandate in Scripture to
seek for suffering, only to accept it if it comes and can’t be avoided
ethically. “Deliver us from evil,” the Lord taught us to pray. Jesus healed
many; disease was an enemy and something He controlled. James 5:15, “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord
will raise him up.”
We can also ask the question, of course, what are we
supposed to learn through this pandemic? I emphasize “we” here; collectivism
might be the position. All of us are learning, individually, things in
our isolated states: that we can do without some things, but not fellowship;
that Zoom meetings get tiresome; that we can default to laziness and lack of
self-care rather quickly; that teaching children at home is difficult; that
people can post some pretty funny stuff on Facebook about these conditions.
But what are WE learning, together? That is another subject
for another post.
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