In 1972 (yes, nearly 50 years ago!), I attended a Spiritual Life Conference in Southern California, and took a workshop about “Drama in the Church.” Those participating in the workshop collaborated with each other to write, learn, and perform some skits a la Charlie Brown, but with different names for the characters. I got a role as “Suzy,” who was a knock-off of Lucy Van Pelt. I had a line, in response to “Ricky Smith’s” confiding in me as “The Doctor,” that he’d been thinking lately, about how going through problems in life might make us better persons -- maybe God had actually planned it that way, that the problems might strengthen our faith.
My line:
“That’s ridiculous, Ricky Smith! Nobody would react that way to adversity.”
Our dear Pastor Joe was back in the pulpit on Sunday! After three months’ “vacation,” he was up and running, and he even stayed afterwards for the carry-in. It was good to see him more resilient now, and he and Peggy both testified.
The title of his message was “What God Taught Me Through Covid-19.” It seems that when your pastor and his wife are both in the hospital at the same time, the thing to do is text each other. And what they texted was any and all of the encouragement from The Word of God they’d found. There was a prayer team on duty, not simply to pray once or even twice a day for this valuable couple, but to “pray through” -- to labor in prayer until there was a release, an answer: to touch the heart of God.
So what did Pastor Joe learn through Covid? It was the deep conviction that God had shown mercy on him and his family, coupled with the absolute promise that we should not fret because of the enemy because he was going to be taken down soon. (There was much more, but that’s a good start. I gave you the link above -- go check it out!)
Let me tell you, Pastor Joe was all over the Scriptures Sunday morning, reading promises he had underlined as the “Rhema Word,” where God had used a passage in Psalms or Daniel or Luke to speak directly to him.
God: “This is a promise from Me to you, Joe! Believe it!”
Well, when you are stuck in a hospital bed, too weak to even walk around, and you can’t feed the dogs or take out the trash, you have lots more time to read the Word. And what you find there brings healing to your soul. He specifically mentioned the television news … nope, no healing there, only anguish and evil.
So I compared Pastor Joe’s experience with Covid with my own and with that of my husband Eric. While we did read the Word, we still did our best to work, and we never got so bad that we had to resort to any hospital. THAT was a blessing! And right after we got Covid, everybody else got Covid, so we kept pretty busy.
I watched Eric. He had noticed a sudden hearing loss in just one ear before he got sick, and that caused him to lose his hearing aid because the weird hearing loss made everything sound distorted. When he visited the audiologist, she was alarmed and sent him to an ENT doctor, who prescribed a heavy dose of steroids. They did the trick, and it was handy that he was on the steroids when Covid symptoms started, but later we discovered that the hearing loss itself was actually a little known early symptom of Covid.
His reaction to the steroids while he had Covid? It was a roller coaster of “I feel GREAT! I should be able to get some work done today,” and “I think … I’ll take a nap … zzzzzzz.”
But during those times when he felt great but had too much Covid brain fog to formulate answers to our customers’ questions, Eric wrote three songs, and he sang those and others at the top of his lungs in the living room so that I could hear him at the back of the house in my office. He sang anything that had a heavy beat and that he could yell at the devil. “Ain’t No Devil Gonna Tread on Me” by We the Kingdom is a good example of a “kick the devil in the butt” song.
Granted, we were not without sin. Covid grumpiness is a real thing. But we knew who the real enemy was.
Me? I typed.
If you have seen the length of my three posts about when we had Covid, you know what I’m talking about. They were not short. I cut my first attempt at Part 2 into a two-part series when I was faced with something so long that nobody would read it -- and then I lengthened Part 3.
So the following, in essence, is “What I Learned Through Covid-19” -- not exactly in a nutshell, though:
Like Pastor Joe, Eric was being comforted when the Spirit gave him songs. He was anxious to share them with others whenever he could.
Like Pastor Joe, I felt relief when I could write down what I knew, and then share that with others.
See a pattern developing here?
Covid is not the only adversity ever. In fact, it is not the only adversity people are going through right at this present moment, either. Covid is a disruption, to be sure, but it’s nothing like the disruption that happens when your breadwinner passes away suddenly from a heart attack, or when you lose your job over company policy with which you cannot comply. Getting Covid is not as bad as being left behind in Afghanistan during the takeover by the Taliban. It’s not as bad as the adversity of being trapped in your house because the streets are too violent and you fear you’ll get shot.
So include any or all of the above, along with what could happen in the future, should the Lord tarry. We do not know what rapids lie ahead on this river -- we only know the pace is picking up.
Here’s the nutshell: During adversity, keep on doing whatever the Lord has called you to do, but do it even more frequently, more earnestly, more faithfully than ever before.
Are you a prayer warrior? Then “pray through” whatever circumstances in which you find yourself and intercede for others. Don’t stop! Pray 25 hours a day -- pray without ceasing.
Have you a calling to a teaching or preaching ministry? Be it for adults or little children, teach them of God’s faithfulness. Learn from the Scriptures during adversity and then pass on what you’ve learned. Don’t stop -- just teach harder, more often, and more earnestly than ever before. Call upon the Spirit to instruct your understanding and make sense of it to encourage others during their hardships.
Are you called to write? Then write it all down. Research what you’re writing and make sure it’s right. Send others the link so that those others can benefit from what you know, and then they in turn can pass on the knowledge again to others. Have messaging conversations with others who are lonely, frightened, or anxious, or who need information, help, or who simply need a word of encouragement.
Are you called to sing or to write songs? Put to music what you are feeling and what you know that you know to be true about God. Speak it, sing it, yell it! Our Christmas program was a hit because we did not back off even when so many had been sick -- those who could come the Sunday before Christmas sang their little hearts out -- even children who had never practiced any of it but were excited about waving streamers in worship to the Lord. Those who came on Christmas Eve fought the devil with the lungs God had healed just for the occasion.
And Eric and I sang songs to sick friends to do battle, to lift their spirits, to push back against the plotting of the enemy.
Is the Lord any different during adversity? To the contrary: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the same God alive in us today as He was to the Prophet Elijah or King David.
And so here is what I learned during Covid:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
~2 Cor. 1:4-5
There’s something I never noticed before. God comforts us in different ways because He knows our needs. He brings a friend alongside who has been through the same thing and can help with that need. If you don’t have any of the abilities I mentioned before, but you’ve been comforted in adversity when someone helped you install a water heater, or when someone mowed your lawn or changed your tire, or when someone helped you clean your house or cook a meal, can you help someone else with that?
Maybe the gift of a zucchini in season would be a comfort to someone going through a heavy trial of losing their job and literally not having enough to eat. Some people love to send and receive cards of all kinds. Some people need an in-person visit and a shoulder to cry on.
But I can tell you this: Do NOT surrender to the enemy. Times of Covid, or times of general adversity, are not the time to wring our hands and be defeated. They are the time to be determined to not be dissuaded from our faith, but to “Keep Calm and Carry On.” If the enemy detects that after all his attacks, you are still believing God with even more ferocity than ever before, he might just go where the hunting ground is more fertile and leave you alone.
It is our reaction to adversity that counts.
“O Father God, You who are the same yesterday, today, and forever, we thank You that You are always faithful to comfort us, in the way that speaks to us of Your love. Help us while we are experiencing adversity to double up on our efforts to do exactly what we are called to do, that others might also be comforted by Your love and Your faithfulness.
“It is a privilege to serve You! We are Yours!
“In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen”
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