Finding meaning and making sense of a Global Crisis

How do you make sense of an unprecedented calamity of Global proportion? How do you find your bearings in the sudden and crazy turn of events around you?  In the last couple of weeks literally everything has gone for a toss, the lines have been altered drastically, the way we live, behave, communicate, work, move around, celebrate, worship etc. almost every aspect of life. It has been a big jolt for most of us from our reverie of life, stuck at home, being fearful of this terrible virus lurking at every corner, occasionally stepping out of our houses with utmost caution, our faces covered with mask’s against an unseen lethal enemy, scrambling to stockpile our homes with provisions for the lock-down and lathering our hands constantly with soap to keep the tiny killer at bay or otherwise fiddling away on our smartphones, immersed in our social media apps and frequently switching to see how the dreaded virus is faring city-state–nation and worldwide (that seems to be the most preferred order of progression.)

For many of the high-flying, jet setting professionals who were hopping from one meeting to another, things have come to a grinding halt. Being stuck in day long drudgery of meetings at home in front of a novel app called Zoom, the founder of which has laughed his way to the banks, hardly in a span of two months. The partying has ceased, food and travel industry has shut shop, tipplers are running high and dry, the killer virus and the need of social distancing has kept people away from all kinds of night life, both promiscuity and infidelity, crime rate has reduced, there is no prime time debates on communal and citizenship issues, (probably because, now our citizenship on this very earth itself is at stake) the noise and rabble rousing has stopped, celebrities are trying to figure out how to make face-time on smartphones and TV screens to stay relevant. Come to think of it, growing up, have we ever imagined that ‘staying home’ can even save lives?  But as Charles Dickens said, these are the worst of times and the best of times.

I am not sure if you have noticed, there are some beautiful things happening around us in this tragic times, our world is healing, pollution levels are at an all-time low, our little planet earth is suddenly all quiet, vibrant with green and blue, we can actually see those colors not the usual haze, at least till ‘we’ get back to ‘our normalcy’. Wild animals are having the best time of their lives, freely roaming on our streets, oh sorry was it theirs that we encroached upon, while we are all now locked up inside. All of a sudden, our perspective on life and our priorities has changed. The things that we were madly chasing after, we have realized that it is of not much use, things that we considered as an absolute necessity in life has now become rubbish. We don’t need those branded items; we can do with anything now. We have realized that we are not the center of the universe and life would go on just as usual even without our presence. We have realized that money, fame, or power will not save us from this virus, in fact it seems to have a preferential liking for those things. For thousands of people affected by the virus and the hundreds who have recovered from it, life has attained a new meaning, priorities have changed and it has become of paramount worth to live on things that matter. Modern medicines and advanced health care facilities even if we are in the most developed country, is no guarantee for survival in this pandemic. The biggest irony is that people who never believed in a God because they could not touch, see or feel Him are now running scared of a virus which they cannot touch, see or feel and they are now re-calibrating if there really is a God. Life and death has become a crucial question at this juncture for many?  

Trying to find meaning and making sense of a crisis is the most difficult aspect of life, we are bombarded by a barrage of questions, where is God in human suffering- in pain and death? Why is God allowing this pandemic? What is His purpose in all this? Recently one student asked me, you guys always say in times of crisis that God is in control, if God is really in control then why is this happening? Well these are tough questions and we don’t have easy answers for any of them. But we have people in the Bible who found meaning and purpose in their times of crisis, they also asked similar questions and found answers as they journeyed with God.

Job, had a terrible personal crisis, a total wipe-out in a span of few hours, remember God allowed that in his sovereign will, Job was completely devastated, his friends were against him, His wife was mocking him to curse God and die, but his perspective was clear, he corrects her by saying, shall we accept only good from God and not trouble? Job 2:10. Again in Chapter 19 verse 25 Job proclaims with all his confidence that, I know my redeemer lives, and that he will see God in his flesh. That kind of a solid confidence in spite of the utter hopelessness that he is in, comes from a deep and profound knowledge and experience of who God is and the closer a person is walking with God the stronger is his confidence in Him.

Another person who was facing a calamity of national proportion was prophet Habakkuk, he was complaining about the current spiritual climate in his nation, how people have walked away from God, how they were indulging in violence, how they have gone away from God’s word and become evil and unjust; why is God tolerating all this? God gives a shocking and totally unexpected reply to the prophet, He says, I am sending a calamity that you won’t believe, I am sending the Babylonians, a cruel and ungodly nation to punish His children Israel. Habakkuk is at a loss; he is unable to understand what God is doing? He raises the tempo of his complaint and asks; how can a loving and just God allow the utterly evil Babylonians to punish people who are better than them? Does God leave him hanging there without an answer? No! God answers the prophet, He gives him a personal and a global response.

God tells Habakkuk in Chapter 2:4 that all he personally needs to do in this crisis is to trust Him, to live by faith. We don’t have to be anxious and worried about the global crisis, we can’t change anything about it, there is no use fretting over things that we don’t have control over, but instead trust the one who has perfect control over all things. God is asking us to rest and Be still in Him.

Then God goes on to give His global purpose of why He allows certain things in Verses 13 & 14, He says, He will destroy the nations pride, what they have built up, their fame and glory He will bring it to nothing, and then He will fill the earth with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord as the water’s cover the sea. That’s Gods purpose for the world, for all the nations and its people to Know His glory and He is doing that right now even through this crisis, we can see that in the hospitals, in the ICU wards, among the police personals, government servants and national leaders, in the streets of different cities people are turning to God, they are crying out to Him and He is being worshiped. We have never ever seen a pandemic of such a global scale, there is not a country that has been spared, God has allowed it in His sovereign knowledge and wisdom, He is once more shaking the very foundations of the earth and He is calling our attention to Him. Be Still! My soul, find rest in Him, He is doing something in our days that we cannot even believe. The Knowledge of the Glory of the Lord is filling this earth.