Last year in school the boys studied ancient history of the world and civilization. This included, of course, the accomplishments and failures of mankind, some of which seemed to one in the same because of the division of the human heart. Example: the tower of Babel. Eager for acclaim and self-confident, that mighty hunter Nimrod with his men tried to build their own way to their own definition of triumph. Their success at invention, innovation, and accomplishment revealed the enormous capability of even a tiny image of God, while their disregard for His sovereignty barred them once again from true knowledge of Yahweh (which Jesus said is life itself).
So He had to scatter them. What is even the power of “autonomous” man united, except dust in the wind when you can see eternity?
He gave them different languages. He reminded them the reality of human limitation. He revealed the inherent divisiveness of pride as in frustration and futility they finally migrated apart with those who could understand them. Then they could actually discover that big, beautiful world God had created for them in the first place. Isn’t His kindness magnificent, even in what felt harsh? Remember: you are not your own. Remember: there is so much more goodness for you if you go ahead and step into what I made you for.
I love practicing medicine. It has been a gift from God to me, and one that I’d never expected or asked for. It is a privilege, an honor, a joy, even as it bears so much brokenness in so many ways. Truly, you could listen to endless debates about what’s right and what’s wrong with any healthcare system in the world, and they may all be correct at some level. The current pandemic has flooded the world with grief, fear, and confusion. It started with the healthcare system, but is certainly not ending there.
This is what I love about Covid-19: YAHWEH is working good for all with eyes to see. Only the truth can set us free, but often… the truth hurts.
He is laying waste our idols. He is reminding the medical community I know and love despite its many ugly faces that it is no savior. He is reminding the developed world that it is not self-sufficient and certainly does not have all the answers. Neither is it a savior. In dramatic fashion He is unveiling the worldwide pervasiveness of injustice and our ineptitude to rightly respond (or even care to). He is toppling our domino foundations of finance and opportunity. He is giving free speech to millions of voices that don’t know what they’re talking about in hopes we will finally recognize the confusion and contradiction. He is also awarding this generation with an unprecedented opportunity to turn off all the outside deceiving and distracting voices and meet with the Truth in the closet. He is knitting millions of families back together even as He also discloses the tragic darkness hovering under the surface of so many others who were convinced that they were making it, even if just barely. He is putting the ways of man on exhibit as only a global crisis can accomplish. He is putting our own hearts on display as we respond.
Everything that can be shaken will be. And everything will be revealed and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. We’re appropriately appalled and distraught at the recognition of all that is unredeemed.
It is mercy to see things as they are, which is, at core, maybe not what we always thought. And only unseen things can teach us that. But the best news is that this is not the end of the story.