1. God is showing us that we live in a fallen world (Romans 8:22). This world is not what God intended it to be; it is broken because of our sin, and as a result, we experience things like this. Yet remembering that this world is fallen increases our longing for a world that is not broken, which we are promised in Revelation 21:1-7.
2. God is reminding us just how much we are not in control of the future (James 4:1-2). I’m the type of person who likes to make plans and start each day with a list of what will happen and what I want to accomplish. This quarantine is teaching me (and I suspect many others) that we don’t always get to operate on our own timeline because God is in control of the future, not us.
3. God is using this crisis to bring us closer together (Philippians 2:4). It’s been heartwarming to hear stories of how people have been reaching out to one another in the past few weeks. When times are “normal,” we tend to only focus on ourselves. In times like these, however, we have the opportunity to learn what it means to be part of a community.
4. God is bringing us to the place where we will call upon Him in desperation. Sad to say, but far too many of us only call upon God in times of crisis and trouble. When times are good, many of us ignore God, but when times like this come upon us, they have a way of bringing us back to Him. The good news is no matter how far we drift from God, He is never far from us (Acts 17:27).
5. God is using this as a way to get us to slow down and focus on Him. We tend to fill our lives with so much “stuff” that it becomes difficult to “seek first His kingdom,” as Jesus tells us to in Matthew 6:33. We focus on our careers, our work, our hobbies, our interests, our sports teams, and so on. What’s left when we’re forced to take a break from all of that? We have God, and we have one another. So perhaps this is an opportunity for us to slow down and do as God says in Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
6. Earlier I quoted Romans 8:28, which ends with the phrase, “who have been called according to His purpose.” And what is God’s purpose for us? We’re told in the very next verse: “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son…” (Romans 8:29). There it is! Our purpose in life is to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus, the One who came not to be served, but to serve; the One who became obedient unto death for our sake; and the One who laid down His life for us only to take it back up again. I believe that God can use anything and everything to accomplish this purpose (yes, even the coronavirus pandemic!).