God neither started nor allowed Covid19!

Warning! If you’re not ready to think outside the box, this is not for you!

Before we arrive into any conclusion, we will have to face two fundamental questions:

1. Is God inside time or outside of time?

If God is outside time, what we say is God can see the beginning and the end of each and everyone’s life. This means you’re saying God can see it all because he was there when He put every detail in place. That sounds strange to me.

Here are a few evidences from the scriptures:

a. God changes His mind: (Jeremiah 18; Joel 2:12–13; Jonah 4:2)

If God is outside time, why would God say one thing and later change His mind?

b. God speaks in conditional terms: (Exodus 4:1, 13:17; Jeremiah 26:3; Matthew 26:39)

When God speaks in conditional terms, he is not playing hide and seek. He is making a genuine appeal to someone to behave in a certain way so that His response will entirely depend on the human choice.

God is inside time. God chose to keep the future open and he continues to journey with us. By deriving this, we see a God who is emotional, personal and someone without pretense.

2. Is God taken by surprise when things unfold in life?

Since God is inside time, and since the future is open, He IS surprised when things unfold. Out of His wisdom, God is capable enough to predict certain things.

Here are a few evidences from the scriptures:

a. God experiences regret: (Genesis 6:6; 1 Samuel 13:13, 15:10, 15:35)

Why would God experience regret if He knew what was coming? God can only regret when He wasn’t taken by surprise.

b. God expresses frustration: (Ezekiel 22:30–31; 2 Peter 3:9)

God was frustrated because a different outcome was expected.

God expects us to make better choices but when we fail to do so, He is not only surprised, but also affected by our choices. God is surprised because God chose to keep the future open! If you go by this idea, it not only empowers to make better choices in life but also helps us take responsibility over our actions. And then prayer becomes even more relevant because if we believe God has planned everything already, there’s no meaning in praying for things!

Reflecting on God’s nature in the light of the present pandemic:

John 10:10 summarizes the nature of God through Jesus – God is never to steal, kill or destroy. Jesus being the embodiment of Shalom, you can never reconcile an evil pandemic with God. We brought the pandemic on us as a result of our selfish actions! A loving God will not control our actions!

God can however change the negative into positive:

Covid19 has already exposed not only the evil desires of humans, but also given us the opportunities to make adjustments with our priorities in life. It has left a lot of us thinking on what adjustments are we ought to make post the Covid19 phase.

Conclusion:

By saying ’God neither started nor allowed Covid19’, am I putting God inside a box and making Him look small and powerless? Absolutely NOT! It’s quite the opposite. I believe in a God who is emotional, all powerful to speak into our lives amid the storm, strong enough to turn around the evil for good, rebuild what was destroyed, creative enough to bring solution when things hit the rock bottom, celebrate when we celebrate and suffer when we suffer.

Applications for life:

1. Don’t blame God for the evil that you see around you.

2. Take responsibilities over our actions, both good and bad.

3. Know that God celebrates when we celebrate, and suffers when we suffer.

4. Strive to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them.

5. Rely on God’s strength when everything else fails.

6. Trust in God’s ability to turn the negatives into positives.