Certain as the Sunrise

Psalm 3 NRSV
1 O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying to me,
‘There is no help for you in God.’
Selah

3 But you, O Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 I cry aloud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy hill.
Selah

5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I am not afraid of tens of thousands of people
who have set themselves against me all around.

7 Rise up, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.

8 Deliverance belongs to the Lord;
may your blessing be on your people!
Selah

Reflection:
How many are the germs! So many germs are rising against me! I can hear them taunting me. “God? What good is God against germs? Go and buy hand sanitizer instead. There is your deliverance! Shield yourself with facemasks and toilet paper. That would be smarter. Don’t stock up on God.”

COVID-19 is enough to shake the faith of any believer, including this pastor. The change came so fast. I feel so powerless. I want to help people. I’m a helper to my core, but how am I supposed to help people when I’m supposed to be keeping my distance? How am I supposed to love my neighbor when I could very well contaminate my neighbor if I help them?

But what Psalm 3 teaches is that in times of fear, change, and yes, panic, God is the constant, maybe the only constant. “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.” That “for” means “in the same way”. God provides for us in the same way as God provides for day to follow night. It’s the same power of God. The same power that makes the planet spin will take care of us in this time, too. God is a constant, sustaining love, and this will not change.

My daughter is two-and-a-half years old. She’s in a phase where she refuses to sleep through the night by herself. She gets up around midnight every night like clockwork, leaves her room and enters our room, and settles down on the floor next to my wife’s side of the bed, where a few throw-pillows and a blanket are waiting for her (we’re suckers). The Coronavirus has not stopped this. The Coronavirus has not changed my daughter’s sleeping habits whatsoever- they, at least, remain unchanged, unphased, untouched by this virus.

Some things are immune to germs, like my daughter needing to sleep beside us, and like God’s presence and provision. No germ can stop God’s grace. God may not slow down the virus, but the virus certainly cannot slow down God. God will provide. It’s as certain as the sunrise.

Closing Prayer:
God, your love is immune to COVID-19. Let us find peace in that. By the power of your Holy Spirit working miracles through modern medicine, everything will be okay. Jesus is Lord of microscopic things, too. Please take care of us, Lord, and give us the faith, courage, and peace we need to see the dawn after this long night. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.