Backyard flora and fauna might seem an odd choice to feature during this unsettling time surrounding Covid19, but they have a lesson for me which I thought might be helpful to share: Our Lord encourages His people not to give in to fear and worry many times throughout scripture. And He points to simple things in creation as illustrations against it. To paraphrase, the flowers and birds do not grow anxious because they know the Lord cares for them.
All creation screams with jubilation the power, glory, and majesty of our King. Every blade of grass, every feather of a bird’s wings, every droplet of rain and ray of sunshine has the beautiful purpose of pointing back to their Almighty Creator. Go outside. Look. Listen.
They shout their hopeful message with every fiber of their beings:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” Revelation 5:13
“See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.” Matthew 6:28b-29
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4
My encouragement is simply this: Amid this apparent chaos, all creation moves steadily to the hymn-like rhythms of God’s grace and power. The flowers are unafraid!
For many, 2020 has not gone the way we thought it would. Hopes have been deferred. Dreams have been dashed. Goals have eluded us. Covid-19 and other painful events this year have changed the face of society and not necessarily for the better. Chaos it would seem reigns supreme.
But does it?
Have you ever driven through mountain fog? (I mean the really dense, can’t see five feet in front of you, thick, gray murk.) This kind of fog is blinding, and when you are in the midst of it, you feel totally alone. Your headlights can’t penetrate it, and you jump out of your skin when a transfer truck comes roaring out of the gloom and passes you in the opposite lane, only to vanish with equal swiftness.
You know breathtaking mountains rise above you on either side, but you can’t see them. You can barely make out the double yellow line in the middle of the road. The thing about fog is that it is temporary. As you continue to drive, inch by painstaking inch, the fog begins to shift and lighten. Suddenly, you round a bend and the sun completely burns the fog away. Your view opens to beautiful vistas and you pause to take a relieved breath and absorb the new perspective. Selah.
“Yea, though I walk through thevalleyoftheshadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4 KJV
That’s what God does. He sees the lovely vistas that we can’t even imagine because we are stuck in a dark, foggy bubble. We are literally in the valley of the shadow. Then, His light gradually burns away the fog surrounding us and we can more deeply appreciate the beauty of His Almighty plans because He has removed the limits of our vision.
I don’t know why we live in the time of Covid-19, but God does. And there is no fog that He cannot lift, no dark, ugly, wretched thing that He can’t redeem. He is all-powerful and all-good.
“And we know that in allthings God works forthegood of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 NIV
Selah Vie! 