It is surely possible to adopt too fatalistic a view of the future. One can waltz right into utter destruction while singing Que Sera Sera, whatever will be will be with all the panache of Doris Day and end up just as dead as she is. We would be wise to remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:17, quoting Deuteronomy 6:16, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Embracing the glorious truth that He has numbered our days and that nothing can change His plan should not lead us to treat safety as foolishness.
That said, one can also fall off the other side of the horse. There’s something deeply invigorating about a good scare, something life affirming about believing death is hot on our trail. The public response to the coronavirus tells us a great deal more about dangers to our mental health than dangers to our physical health. I don’t pretend to know exactly how dangerous this headline grabbing chunk of sky falling is. I do believe it is safe to say that we are much more safe than many think we are.
Why then all the breathlessness? Partly, I suppose, it comes from a genuine fear that we’re all going to die. Given that such is true, however, we are all in fact going to die, I think it’s less about fear we’re going to die and more about fear we’re not really living. When virtually every news outlet is circling around such a story (and let’s not forget all those duds that have come and gone in the past- I’m looking at you H1N1, Ebola, and Swine) it is doing so to get us to tune in. The worldwide web and the ripping off the mask of objectivity has turned every news source into WSCB, We’re Scary Click Bait.
I am, to a fault, drama averse. I’m no Chicken Little screaming “The sky is falling!” when it is not. No, I’m Ostrich Big, burying my head in the sand whispering, “The sky is not falling” when it is. That said, even an ostrich gets it right from time to time. The sky is not falling. Death is coming for all of us, all in God’s appointed time. He calls us to be good stewards of all He has given us, including our bodies, our health. Wash your hands. Sneeze like Dracula. But in the midst of that let us never forget that He has washed our feet, and that like Dracula, we will rise, not in the dark of night, but in the light of His coming again. Let us remember that the WHO and the CDC are made up of mere men. Let us remember that while Corona may or may not get us, the Crown will have everyone of us, sheep and goats, bending our knees and confessing that He is Lord, to the glory of the Father. That He reigns doesn’t mean the Coronavirus won’t make the Black Plague look like a bout of the chicken pox. It might. But if it does, it will because He reigns, because He has determined such is what is best for us and for His glory. And if it doesn’t, it will be because He reigns, because He has determined such is what is best for us and for His glory. Some trust in presidents, and some trust in doctors, but we trust in the name of our Lord.