If you had the power to do something – alleviate pain, cure cancer, stop famine, control the weather, etc. – would you do it? That really sounds like an absurd question, but in reality that is exactly where we are, isn’t it? We’re wondering why God doesn’t intervene, why He doesn’t step in and destroy this virus that is literally shutting down the world. And because of that, the age-old questions surface once again: if God is all-powerful yet does not intervene, then He cannot be good; or if He is good and really cares about His human creation yet does not intervene, then He cannot be all-powerful. We begin to convince ourselves that these are the only two options.

But, could there be other options available? Could there be another explanation which embraces both the omnipotence of God, as well as the goodness of God? There has to be, or we are left to believe that God is an uncaring, unloving, less-than-powerful Being that is not worthy of our worship.

We might try to resolve this paradox by using the analogy of the relationship between a parent and child. As a loving, caring parent, we truly want the best for our children. We don’t want them to suffer in any way. We try our best to protect them from harm. We strive to teach them to embrace proper values which will guide them in their decision making as they grow into adulthood. However, no matter how much effort we put into protecting them, they still suffer. They contract childhood diseases, suffer bumps and bruises, reject the values we work so hard to instill in their young, impressionable minds, and suffer the consequences of poor decisions.

Then, sadly, some parents reach the conclusion that to continue to protect their children from their self-imposed path of destruction will do more harm than to allow them to suffer the consequences of their actions. So, as painful as it is for the parent to watch, they allow their child to go down a path that will cause great personal pain and anguish.

I realize the analogy breaks down because we cannot compare the powers of a finite, fallen human being with the infinite God of the universe, but please follow along with me for a few more minutes. As we turn to the words of Scripture seeking answers, we may be surprised at the things we learn. We learn, for example, from the story of Adam and Eve, that God set parameters for them which would ensure their well-being if they would remain within those parameters. Could God have created them in such a way that they could not choose to step outside of those God-ordained parameters? Of course He could! Yet that would mean human beings were nothing more than automatons, robots, pre-wired with no ability to choose anything outside of the God-ordained parameters.

However, God did not create a race of robots; He created a race of humans to whom He gave the right to make real choices, even those in direct defiance of His pre-ordained parameters. Consequences would be suffered for those decisions, but Adam and Eve had the freedom to choose. And, by choosing as they did, they suffered dire consequences, and also unleashed on the world the curse for their recklessness.

A huge consequence of their insubordination was the unleashing of God’s curse on the earth. The original family was banished from the pristine, perfect paradise of Eden, and forbidden to ever return. The earth would no longer produce as it had before the fall, but would only produce through the toil and sweat of the human family.

As we follow along the developing story of humanity as presented in Scripture, we see the unfolding of the catastrophic results of the fall. Diseases of all kind, natural disasters of titanic proportions, hatred among different people groups, wars, famine, earthquakes, epidemics, and yes, even pandemics. The human family was cursed.

Dotted throughout history we read of all manner of hardships and heartaches caused by the curse. The present Covid-19 pandemic is another of many that have come and gone before. In just the past forty years we have witnessed the following: HIV/Aids, 1981- present; Swine flu, 2009-10; SARS, 2002-03; Ebola, 2014-16; MERS, 2015-present; Covid-19, 2019-present. These are all examples of the affects of the curse God pronounced on the earth.

We must surmise from this the truth that all such pandemics are the result of man’s freedom to choose defiance of the will of God over submission to the will of God. The results of the fall of man continue to escalate, and will actually proliferate as time goes on.

As I stated in an earlier blog: chances are that you will not die from Covid-19. However, something will eventually take your life. The Bible gives ample teaching concerning this subject, and even for those who do not believe the Bible, history proves the point. So, the matter of being prepared for death is of utmost importance. God has graciously provided a means through which individuals may be prepared for death: Jesus Christ. And for anyone who might think God cannot possibly bring something good out of a pandemic, please remember this: He provided salvation through the most horrific event in all of human history. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the devil was defeated, the curse was dealt a death blow, and the avenue from death into life was opened wide for everyone who would accept God’s offer of grace.

In the meantime, the effects of the curse still rage. Sickness, disease, death, war, famine, earthquakes, etc. etc. will continue to intensify until the very moment Jesus Christ personally intervenes in history once again. The results of the curse should be a reminder to each of us that life is short, time is limited, and history as we know it will end. Please, I beg of you, make sure you are prepared for eternity by turning to, and trusting in, the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is our ONLY hope.