For the last five months or so since planting Redemption Hill, we’ve been working on several property-related questions.In September, we began working on the purchase of Red Mountain Plaza and the hillside, which we finalized in early December. With the remaining weeks in December, we began the master planning process, now incorporating the new properties. We have made some progress already, and we’re excited about what we sense the Lord doing. 

But it’s not the building stuff that is most exciting or important. I sense that God is stirring among us. He is continually bringing new people our way. He is opening doors in distant lands for gospel work. He is flooding our church with babies, with young kids, with teenagers, with college students, and with young adults. He is working among men and women to know and study His Word better and to follow Him more closely. He is leading brothers and sisters to read the Bible with unbelieving friends and family members. He is continually providing for our needs financially in ways that astound and humble us. He is leading people to step up into roles vacated through the church plant. He is bringing young men who want to train or be better equipped for future ministry. He is using our church to bless our city through church partnerships like Philadelphia Baptist and church plants like Redemption Hill. He is making and shaping a genuine body of bodies who love and care for one another, especially during the most difficult and trying times. And all of this is to say nothing of what God does every Sunday through the ordinary means of grace and throughout the week in Growth Groups and Christian community. 

I could go on. Truly, I want all this and more to go on. We will never build because it’s simply the next thing to do or because we want to be bigger as a church for numbers’ sake. No, thanks. Whatever we do must be Spirit-driven, Christ-exalting, God-glorifying. 

And all of that brings me to the heads-up. We want to hear from you. The elders have been thinking about these issues for months (years, in some ways), but we want to make sure that the congregation is included, engaged, and informed along the way. The architects helping us agree that congregational feedback is critical, and they, too, have suggested that we get proactive feedback, not just reactive feedback. To that end, you should receive a survey next week that is fairly comprehensive regarding perceived building needs, difficulties, opportunities, and more. We would really appreciate every member of our church completing this form, and we certainly believe this information will be helpful for us as we progress further in planning. 

As a church and as elders, we know that any building is secondary, not primary. The church is the people, and the mission is the gospel spreading into every corner of our lives and every corner of the world. So, any building project needs to serve the ends of glorifying God, equipping His people, and spreading His gospel. 

Let’s be praying now (and please, pretty-please, fill out the survey when you see it next week).

Love you, church,

Bart

Entire books could be and have been written on this subject so it is not my intention to address every aspect of this issue. I do, however, want to speak about four things when it comes to our responsibility to go to unreached peoples in order to share the gospel and plant churches. Let’s take a look at Jesus, Paul, John, and ourselves. 

First, Jesus made clear statements regarding the ends of the earth and the people who live there. In Matthew 24, when speaking to his disciples about the end of the age, he stated, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). And in the very famous words known as the Great Commission, Jesus says, 

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. – Matthew 28:18-20 

The nations Jesus speaks about are not geopolitical descriptions we know as nations today, but ethnicities that are spoken of as people groups in modern terms. 

In addition, Paul also spoke about going beyond the boundaries of known gospel work to take God’s word to places yet to be reached.

I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. – Romans 15:20-21

It is hard to read these words of Paul’s and not think of those that precede them earlier in his letter to the Romans: 

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”  – Romans 10:14–15

John also speaks about the nations based upon his vision of the multitude around the throne at the end of time.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  – Revelation 7:9-10

But what does all of this mean for us? 

We (all Christians) have a responsibility to support the gospel going to the unreached and I would go beyond this statement to say that we (members at CFC) have an opportunity to pursue reaching the least reached, most difficult places that remain. I think we can and should take the gospel to the hard places.

Yes, we have many lost people in our neighborhoods and all across our city. But this reality does not negate pursuing the least reached people in the world. In terms of access to the gospel, there are comparatively few people in Birmingham who have no access to the church and the gospel. When we consider the least reached communities around the globe, there are vast numbers of people who have no opportunity to access the gospel through a local church. There are people groups and communities who have no gospel workers among them. This warrants the need for God’s people to go to them. 

CFC does not need to go to all unreached peoples but we do need to take this mission seriously and go to some. We have the opportunity to take the gospel to some of the least reached people in the world and we should do so!

I asked my wife, Sara Beth, what she would say to encourage whole families from CFC who are thinking about the unreached places of the world. Here is what she had to say…

We do a lot of compartmentalizing in our lives. Work, family, church, school, sports. Society even helps us as we attend “adult only” or “family-friendly” events and spaces. There are things we do with our kids, and there are things we don’t. Sometimes it's because we feel our kids won’t get anything out of it or it isn’t appropriate to include them. Maybe we just want to be more efficient with our time and the whole family coming along can change that dynamic. We may even feel like our kids will weigh us down and keep us from being effective or useful. Maybe we’re just worried they’ll be bored, or it will be a waste of time or money. Sometimes its just HARD to take the kids—a quick call to a grandparent or a sitter is the easiest route. 

But what if taking the kids is the best thing we could do even it if is the hardest? 

When we think about taking the gospel to the least-reached peoples of the world, we often pray for whole families to hear and receive the Good News. Households of faith are pillars for the gospel in unreached communities. If we want to be part of this task, we need to be willing to have the whole family be all in. The families we reach with the gospel need to see examples of Christian parents with their kids.

When Brian first lived in the Himalayas, he was single. He could spend whole afternoons around a monastery and only engage with a few monks—never once able to talk to the women who were there spending their day walking the circuits to gain merit. When we returned a few years later, with kids in tow, our opportunities for conversation grew exponentially. Whichever kid I had strapped in a carrier on my front or back was an automatic conversation starter among the grandmas. Conversations moved beyond just individuals and usually involved whole families. 

And there are benefits in the discipleship process for our own families. In the same way it helps you to see and experience a new culture in order to better pray for the work and people there, it is even more helpful for your kids, who still go through life very concretely, to see it with their own eyes and understand why those people need Jesus. We need to have shared family experiences in these places, and we need to keep talking about them and praying about them as a family when we return. These are seeds worth planting in our kids’ hearts and minds. 

Long plane rides are intimidating. It's going to be expensive. Jet lag can be tough. They may not like the food. We can make a whole list of reasons for the “cons” category. Yes, it may look different than if you went by yourself, but don’t compartmentalize gospel work overseas into the “adult-only” category or put it off til they are older because it feels too hard right now. Our families need to see and experience both the beauty and the lostness of the world. They need to see us engaging with other cultures and sharing the gospel with those we encounter. It’s worth it. 

This is not a mandate that every family should always go as a family. There are seasons of life to consider, and budgets too. There are different purposes for various short trips the church may take. Some times may be appropriate for kids, and some may not. We simply want to encourage people to be open and prayerfully consider what the Lord may be leading them as a family to do, together!

There, sitting on Bibi’s living room floor, I discovered that naan, a bread I had previously only associated with India, is also a staple of Afghan cuisine. And their version is delicious. Bibi served it alongside hot tea and rice with raisins, atop a beautiful woven cloth that she had laid out before us.

To be honest, as delicious as the cooking was, it was her hospitality that left the biggest impression. Hospitality from a refugee in my own backyard. By God’s grace, I was able to share that experience with my eight year old son and fellow CFC member Reagan Wells (who had been there with me the first time as well) when we delivered furniture to Bibi one rainy day the following week. My entire family has since spent time with hers on multiple occasions, including dinner at our house one time over the holidays.

From here, the blessings have only multiplied. My five-year old prays for Mrs. Bibi regularly. My children who came to us through adoption have realized that there are other hard stories out there. And my three-year-old knows what naan tastes like.

That’s all from one family, but there are others, including another Afghan family with whom our growth group had previously connected. There is a Syrian family that my wife drove to get clothes and an Eritrean woman she helped at the supermarket (while my daughters kept her two-year-old son entertained).

All of these refugee families live in West Homewood, and they continue to come.

This year, over 350 refugees will be settled here. The resettlement agency is overwhelmed and under-supported. And here we are.

CFC is poised to meet some of these critical needs with resources, time, skills, jobs, friendships, and ultimately the good news of Jesus. Many of the areas people are coming from do not have access to the gospel and are hard to reach. Most of the people now arriving have only what could fit into a suitcase. Yet here they are, sojourners, most of whom are eager to welcome us into their new homes to serve us a meal.

Some of the best international food in Birmingham is just down the street. If that blows your mind like it did mine, consider this. For at least 350 of our neighbors, your chicken pot pie might be the most international dish they’ve ever tried, too.

While continuing to worship from home isn’t ideal, we know the Lord will continue to supply for all of our needs. Our souls will continue to be fed by the spoken Word of God, the public prayers of the saints, the preaching of the Gospel, and the singing of timeless truths. Over the last few months, my family has learned through trial and error that while being at home in front of the TV for “church” isn’t ideal, there are certainly things we can do to make the experience more nourishing to our souls. Not all of these tips will apply to or help everyone, but here are some quick pointers that have helped our family of four (two adults, a first grader, and a five-year-old) make the most of our worship together on Sundays.

Prepare

Our mid-week newsletter provides both the text of the preaching passage, and a playlist with songs that will be included in the Sunday service. I find that reading the scripture and listening to those songs is a good way to prepare my heart and mind for Sunday morning.

Participate in the Live Service

There’s something meaningful about worshiping with our brothers and sisters, even when we’re in different locations. Watching later is great, if that’s the better option for your family—but singing, praying, and listening along with the larger congregation can help fight feelings of distance and disconnection.

Shower & Get Dressed

Like brushing your teeth before a Zoom call, it will make you feel more prepared and promote a mindset that will help you leave everyday tasks behind and focus on an hour that is set apart. For those of us with kids, it’s also a helpful visual representation to them that we’re approaching an hour that is special and important.

Start Early and Reduce Distractions

This is probably about as realistic for most of us as getting to church on time. But for my family, I know that the earlier we start, the closer to on time we will be.  So about ten minutes before church starts, we try to give the kids a five-minute warning that we’re about to call them in for worship, we print the liturgy, gather Bibles and pens, and mentally and spiritually collect ourselves.

Turn on the TV and Turn Up the Sound

We have found that it really helps to have the service on the big screen, and to have the sound turned up so that we can sing with gusto. It almost feels like I’m at the building on Green Springs Highway when I close my eyes and can hear the worship team over my own voice!

Stand Up to Sing (and otherwise pretend like you’re in church)

It has helped us (and our girls) to stay focused on worship when we follow the service leader’s verbal cues. Doing so is a sort of whole-body reminder that we are participating in something greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a good way to engage the kids, too. They are much more likely to join in if Mom and Dad participate as usual. Besides, it’s hard to sing while sitting down!

Have a Kids’ Program

A leader in another local congregation asked the parents of preschoolers: “What memories do you want your kids to have of worshiping at home during the pandemic?” I found this question challenging and thought-provoking. A lot of us will be staying home because our kids are the challenge with returning to church right now, but rather than resent the adjustment required, we can think creatively about how to share our love for the Church during this time. Additionally, making sure the kids are well occupied allows you to focus on worship!

Having kids be part of the service at all possible opportunities is a good goal. Mine are old enough to participate through the beginning of the sermon, and then we allow them to go to a different room to read a picture Bible, color, and do other quiet activities. But for younger kids, plan ahead and do what you can to make sure you can listen to the sermon as uninterrupted as possible. 40 minutes of time for you to listen to the sermon is a great use of screen time! But most importantly, you want to love your children well by modeling love of the Church in this time.

Revisit the Service Later in the Week

Just as usual, it is strengthening to our hearts and minds to review the sermon notes and liturgy during the week. Read through your service notes when you have a few moments, reread the Bible passage, and talk about the themes with your kids and other church members.

Conclusion

As a recovering perfectionist, a big theme of my life has been learning to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Worshiping at home has been a prime area in which I can apply this principle. While my heart will be with my brothers and sisters who are gathering at the building at Green Springs this Sunday, I can be grateful that modern technology allows me to participate from home. And while I don’t know how long this season will last, I can agree with James when he says that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).

Pandemics come and go, but Christ never changes. I find comfort in and grow closer to him as I pursue him through worship—even when an unusual season prevents me from gathering in person with the family of God. Like all good things in life, getting the most out of church during this time of social distancing takes a little work—but when I put the work in, I find God provides the harvest. "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!" (2 Cor. 9:15).

Before Church

1. Pray – This is the most important thing you do. It is God’s very Spirit that your child needs, not mere tips for success or even your good example. Pray throughout the week for your children to be given new life in Christ. And pray with your family on Sunday morning that the Lord would give you ears to hear and hearts to respond.
2. Make Family Worship a Priority – Worship doesn’t begin on Sunday in the church building, but every night of the week around your dinner table (or wherever and whenever you worship together as a family). This is a great time to pick up a good habit, as it will have the added benefit of making hearing the Bible read, praying, and singing seem normal to your kids.
3. Review the Songs We’ll Sing and the Sermon Text – Did you know that you can find our sermon text and songs for Sunday on our website? Head over to our website, and under the resources tab click “Preparing for Worship.” There you will find the sermon text and songs for this upcoming Sunday. Why not read the passage together one night at family worship, or help your kids learn some of the songs we will sing together? It can prepare your kids to listen and participate more fully.
4. Be Prepared for Sunday Morning – Saturday night is actually pretty important too! Lay out clothes for your kids to wear, gather together anything you’ll want to take to church with you, and try to get to bed at a decent time. On Sunday morning, eat breakfast with your family and pray again for the service that morning. Set and talk about reasonable expectations for your kids as it relates to participation and behavior.
5. Use the Restroom – Normally, I’d say just make sure that your kids use the restroom before the service when they get to church. In these strange times, let me encourage you to ask your children to use the restroom before you leave for church to minimize use of common touch points.

At Church

1. Use Kid’s Notes or the Digital Liturgy – If your child is old enough to read and take notes, print out some kid’s notes during the week and look it over with them when you arrive at church, helping them know what they can or should take notes on. Even if they are not old enough to use kid’s notes or read, you can use the digital liturgy to talk to them about the order of the service and what is going on. Do this before service starts, and then feel free to quietly encourage them to listen and/or participate as appropriate.
2. Model Participation – Kids are little sponges, soaking up both what we say and do. So give them all the good instruction (above) and a good example to follow. Sing loudly, say “Amen” with the prayers, take good notes (even encourage your kids who are learning to take notes on things they can write down), and fully engage as much as possible.

After Service

1. Talk about the Service as a Family – Anything is open for discussion here! Talk about your favorite songs, the public prayers that gave voice to your own prayer, or points in the sermon that affected your head (what you think), heart (how you feel), or your hands (what you do). Let the Word of God echo throughout your household after the service as a normal course of action.
2. Pray – If you skipped this earlier (or even if you didn’t), let me reiterate: This is the most important thing you do. Pray that the truths of God’s Word would grow your child’s love of Christ, that they might be our brothers and sisters, and that we might walk towards heaven together with them.

Let me leave you, brothers and sisters, with a few encouragements.

• Worshiping with your kids takes consistency. Like anything in life, doing it over and over again with loving, caring instruction will often yield fruit. Keep at it! It’s hard, yes, and in this season we realize that with some kids who are very young or especially active, it may not be feasible for your family to be in worship every week. But strive for growth in consistency, even if it is in their participation watching the live stream.
• Worshiping with your kids takes discipline. It takes discipline from you to set them up and help them. It takes discipline from your kids to grow in their ability to participate and pay attention. Often our kids will surprise us with how much they can take in or do. Don’t exasperate them, but don’t set the bar too low either.
• Worshiping with your kids takes grace. Yes, we want our kids to behave, to sit still, to listen well. And there is nothing wrong with encouraging and rewarding that. But in a desire for quiet, don’t fall prey to the opposite trap of provoking your children to anger (Ephesians 6:4). Give them grace in correction and training for righteousness. We all need it.

Brothers and sisters, we cannot tell you enough that we love you and your children. We are genuinely delighted to worship together again soon, Lord willing. If there is any way in which we can better serve or care for you and your family, please let us know at the contact information below.

Love in Christ,

Ryan Adams

radams@cfcbirmingham.org

Elizabeth Bryant

ebryant@cfcbirmingham.org

The church has been one of my most constant sources of joy and normality for my whole life. The Lord saved me at a young age and gave me a love for His church that grew under the care of some great men who did their best to point me toward loving God and my neighbor. I was a freshman in high school when I first felt God calling me to ministry. I’ve been on staff at a church more often than not since I was seventeen. I love the church, and I have grown to love doing things for the church. Sundays don’t feel normal unless I’m preparing for a service at CFC or traveling to speak on behalf of the Baptist Children’s Homes, where I work in church engagement. While we all can agree that loving the church and regularly participating in church activities are good things, they can be problematic when we equate those for spiritual health and growth. God, in His grace, used my watching our church’s simulcast from home to make me realize that I had fallen into that trap of the enemy.

The first Sunday of shelter at home was a bit of a wakeup call for me. I found myself extremely discouraged, but for quite a while I couldn’t put my finger on why I felt that way. After some time, I started realizing that I didn’t feel like myself because in my mind I wasn’t doing all that I should be. I felt tired, discouraged, and, frankly, useless. I felt that way because I wasn’t able to participate in something that I felt made me who I am. It was at that time I began to realize that I was wrongly putting my identity in what I did. It is easy to base our worth, value, and who we are in what we do. Instead, we need to remember that those things are found in who God has made us to be in Christ. We are a new creation. We are members of a kingdom of priests. We are His ambassadors in this world. We are His agents of reconciliation.

When we recognize that our identity is in belonging to Christ and not in what we do for Him, we are free to take our focus off ourselves and begin to look to Him and to other people. This dynamic is especially tempting to those of us who are the most “bought in”; or in other words, it can be easy for those of us who do more things around church to equate those with spiritual health. While doing things to serve the church and to help others are good things, it becomes problematic when we elevate those actions to a status reserved in our hearts for Christ alone.

There’s a story in the Bible that speaks to this dynamic. It’s a story of two sisters who were hosting Jesus in their home. In this familiar story, recorded in Luke 10:38-42, one sister sits and listens to Jesus while the other does all the work necessary to host the scores of people who would be coming to their home to hear Jesus teach. Martha, the sister who did all the work, came to Jesus hoping to enlist His help in prodding her sister, Mary, to pull her weight. To Martha’s surprise, Jesus commends Mary instead. In His love for Martha, He tells her that Mary chose the better portion. Mary chose to prioritize the primary task for which she was created: to worship and enjoy God. Martha didn’t choose something bad; she merely did not choose what was best. Is this not the essence of idolatry? To elevate good things to a place reserved for God alone. Those things won’t satisfy in and of themselves. They will only lead to self-reliance when we think we are doing a good job, discouragement when we don’t feel that we are measuring up, or burnout when our energy is gone.

Instead of attempting to find joy in our own efforts, our Lord offers all of us who are burdened to come to Him for true rest and lasting joy. Throughout this process, I have had to confess multiple times that I have succumbed to the temptation to place my worth in what I do for Jesus instead of who I am in Jesus. If these times of staying at home and being unable to participate in our normal routine have brought similar feelings to the surface of your heart, I encourage you to fight the temptation to make excuses or to attempt to suppress those feelings of conviction. Instead, run to Jesus and, like Mary, sit at His feet. Listen to Him. Reflect on the truth of the gospel and repent of your sin. He has paid the price of our redemption and forgiven us of all of our sins, even sins of misplaced identity. The gospel is truly good news.

While I hope this season of being unable to gather as a church comes to an end in the near future, I hope that the Lord never lets me forget the hard lessons that I have learned while watching church on my couch. If I were never able to participate in another church service again, His global church and our local church would go on just fine. He doesn’t need me, and that is okay. I hope that all of us can emerge from our time in quarantine closer to Christ than when we entered it. I especially hope that any of us who have learned hard lessons during this time would never forget what the Lord taught us during this unique season of slower schedules and greater time for reflection.

I was as sick as I have ever been. The sore throat made it hard to breathe. The stomach pain made it hard to eat. The combination of the two made it hard to believe. I had moved to Nairobi to serve in a Kenyan church, but I was too sick to leave the house. Languishing in illness and loneliness, I wondered, Why, God?

Feeling an affinity for its title character, I read through the book of Job and was shocked by what I encountered. It asked precisely the theological questions I was struggling with, but it didn’t answer them the way I expected. Those same unexpected answers can now provide hope to face the coronavirus pandemic.

1. Will I Be Protected from Suffering?

This virus has stripped away the false security we find in our health and finances, leaving an anxious fog in its wake. The narrative opening of Job acknowledges our basic yearning to find protection from suffering; even righteous and wealthy Job feels it. In his anxiety, he offers sacrifices every morning on behalf of his children in the off chance that any have sinned (1:5), apparently thinking sufficient sacrifices will protect him and those he loves from suffering.

Satan, true to his accusing role, points out this apparent chink in Job’s armor to God. He questions whether Job’s faith will survive the suffering he has been so determined to avoid through his sacrifices and substantial livestock nest egg (1:9-11). So God allows Satan to rip Job’s wealth and health from him, just as COVID-19 has done to so many, not because of his unrighteousness but because of his righteousness. The book’s answer, therefore, to the question on all of our minds right now, “Will I be protected from suffering?” is a resounding, “I wouldn’t count on it.” As Jesus declares, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33).

2. How Should I Respond to God?

The book forces us, like Job, to move on from the anxiety-ridden question, “Will I be protected from suffering?” to the faith-building question, “How should I respond to God in the midst of suffering?” Once again, though, it refuses to offer the expected feel-good answer. We like the stoic martyr of faith we encounter in the first couple chapters, who declares, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (1:21). This is all we tend to hear from Job. But Job has more to say. He curses the day of his birth, lashes out at his friends, complains (as might we) about his isolation from friends and family, even appears to accuse God of injustice (e.g., 10:3), enmity (13:24), and vicious attacks (e.g., 16:12-14). Something is not right in the world, he insists, and God must do something about it.

Shockingly, at the book’s end, God declares that Job, not the friends, has spoken rightly about him (42:7). God doesn’t justify this verdict, but the rest of the Old Testament does. Job joins the heroes of Israelite faith, Abraham (Gen 18:17-33), Jacob (Gen 32:6-12, 22-31), and Moses (Exod 32:1-14); the psalmists who dare to cry ‘Why?’ and ‘How long?’; and prophets, such as Amos, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk, in confronting God and demanding that he make things right. And God repeatedly responds favorably to their protests. Reflecting this biblical tradition, Jesus tells a parable of a widow whose persistent pleading convinces an unjust judge to intervene on her behalf, concluding, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?...However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7-8).

Job’s initial pious submission is easy to endorse when we consider suffering from the outside. However, as more are drawn into the inferno of infection, it may forge faith and protest together into a stronger theological alloy, which cries out to God in faith to rectify injustice.

3. How Should I Respond to Others?

If we would raise theological objections against Job’s bold protests, the book’s presentation of Job’s friends should caution us. Attempting to console Job, they preach profound theological truths about God’s just punishment of the wicked and sovereign deliverance of the righteous—to a man whom God has allowed to suffer because of his righteousness. As Job doggedly declares the injustice of his situation, the friends turn on him, accusing him of great wickedness (Job 22:5). They feel they must, because if Job is genuinely righteous, their righteousness won’t save them from his fate. Their fear of suffering drives them to blame the victim in order to create a distinction between themselves and Job that can protect them from his suffering. 

This same fear is behind my relief when I hear that a young, deceased victim of COVID-19 had some underlying condition that I don’t have. I want to keep their suffering at a distance by putting them in a different category than myself. The book of Job draws us into the suffering of others by destroying these imaginary walls separating us from it.

4. Is This Divine Punishment?

In times of suffering, we can feel, as Job did, that God has turned against us and become our enemy. Some have even attributed this pandemic to divine punishment. But righteous Job’s affliction should make us wary of such conclusions. Thus, when Jesus’ disciples ask if a man’s blindness was caused by his or his parents’ sin, he responds, “Neither...but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:2-3). Job’s story encourages us to ask, not what sin this pandemic is punishing, but how we might display God’s glory through our response to it.

5. What Does Suffering Tell Us about God?

God’s long-awaited answer to Job also violates our expectations. God doesn’t directly address Job’s suffering at all. Instead, after establishing himself as the creator of the cosmos (38:4-38), God describes his meticulous care for his creatures: dangerous, unclean, and uncontrollable animals below and beyond Job’s concern (38:39-39:30). If God is good enough to hunt prey for lionesses, feed young ravens, and midwife mountain goats, surely he cares for Job. Jesus similarly claims God’s care for sparrows should dispel fear, since “you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matt 10:29-31). Then God turns this argument around. If God is powerful enough to control Behemoth and Leviathan, embodiments of human fear, then surely Job’s situation is not beyond divine sovereignty (40:1-41:34; cf. Rom 8:31-39). God guides Job’s gaze from his particular suffering to the breadth of creation in order to address his suffering, to provide him with hope that also applies to anyone and any affliction.

No one who suffers from COVID-19 is too insignificant for God’s care; none of the suffering we face is too powerful for his control. And yet, people are suffering. Job suffers. Some baby ravens starve. The divine speeches don’t attempt to explain why a good and powerful God allows evil to exist, why God created Behemoth and Leviathan (or COVID-19) in the first place. They redirect our question from why God allows suffering to persist, the answer to which is different in each situation and beyond our comprehension in most, to whom we must trust in every situation, and why this God is worth trusting. Job understands this. He is consoled while still on the ash heap (42:2-6).

6. Will Things Ever Get Back to Normal?

But God does not leave Job on his ash heap. Some find the book’s happy ending disappointingly trite, but it is perfectly appropriate for the good and sovereign God to make everything right in the end. We don’t know when that end will come in the current crisis. But the hope of the book of Job, as of the Christian faith, is that the God who allows our suffering will also eventually end it, that if we emulate “the endurance of Job,” we will see “how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11). Job teaches us that persevering through suffering can create a new and better normal, one in which we see the God we had only heard of (42:5) and anxious sacrifices are replaced with deeper trust.

Here’s why the refrain is so refreshing: it’s straight from the lips of Jesus. Read the Gospels. You hear our Savior (and his angels) constantly telling His people, “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid, you are more valuable than many sparrows. Do not be afraid, I control the winds and the waves. Do not be afraid, your prayers have been heard. Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God. Do not be afraid, walking on water ain’t nothing (loose translation there).

God knows our frame and has not forgotten that we are dust. We are frail. We are weak, even when we pretend to be strong. We all know this to be true. Global pandemics only magnify what we already knew to be true. If we are sober-minded and just take a look around, we’ll see and feel our (collective) weakness.

In the face of that God says: Do not be afraid. Why? Because God is good. God is sovereign. If we can believe that God is good and God is sovereign, fear should really never rule us. If God is for us, who can be against us? The answer: everyone and everything. The economy can be against you. Disease can be against you. Natural disasters and calamity can be against you. Family members can be against you. Governments can be against you. It’s funny. The answer to that question is not: no one. The answer is everybody can be against you.

The promise of the Bible is not that you will be kept from pain but that you will be kept with God. That even if you lose your house, you will have God. Even if you lose your family you will have God. Even if you lose your job you will have God. Even if you lose your very life you will have God. And God is good and in control. God is good and in control. God is good and in control. Do not be afraid.

Hugh Latimer knew and lived this truth. When living for God in 16th century England he suffered a terrible death. He was burned at the stake for his confession of the goodness of God and the freedom of His Word. At the stake, as the fire was lit, he looked to his companion, Nicholas Ridley, and uttered the famous words: “Play the man.”

“Play the man” doesn’t mean anything to us in 2020. But in October of 1555, Mr. Ridley understood what his friend was saying. He was saying, put steel in your spine. Be courageous. Be confident. Why? Certainly not because our circumstances are great or our situation enviable. He was about to be burned alive! No. The courage… the confidence… it all came from a deep and abiding knowledge that God is good and in control.

Today we are faced with much uncertainty. COVID-19 has people afraid of losing their jobs, their wealth, their families, and their very lives. Fear of loss is not new to 2020; it is only magnified as we all experience it together.

Remember the words of Jesus: Do Not Be Afraid. God is Good. God is Sovereign.

Remember the words of Hugh Latimer: Play the Man. Be Confident. Be Courageous.

How? Own your Hope.

Here’s a few suggestions of how to do that practically:

Own Your Intake:

• Quit consuming news like it’s oxygen. Get the facts. Move on. I might add, get the facts you need to operate in your world. If you’re not a medical professional, the current numbers of ICU beds at your local hospital probably doesn’t impact you. You don’t control that. You have no say in how that problem will be solved. If news brings nothing but anxiety to you, quit reading about it. Pray about it. Go to sleep and trust that God is good and in control.
• Be Entertained with Truth. Tiger King is a distraction, not sustenance. When you get online, find a three-minute clip of Timothy Keller on YouTube, get lost in a maze of Ravi Zacharias, John Piper, and Keller clips. Thank God for smart Christians. Pray about it. Go to sleep and trust that God is good and in control.
• Read Your Bible. You had to know that was coming. Start your day with Psalm 103, end it with Psalm 46. Maybe throw in some Gospels for lunch. Pray. Go to sleep. And trust that God is good and in control.

Own Your Output:

• Serve Someone. Get the cell phone numbers of your neighbors. When you go to the store, ask who needs something. Want to go next level? Pay for it. (Remember, God is good and in control. Many of us can afford to be generous.) Find someone who lost their job and give them a gift card to the grocery store. The best medicine for anxiety is to bear the burdens of others. Plus, we’re commanded to do that—two birds, one stone.
• Do Something Daily. We were made to work. Labor comes before the Fall. If you don’t have daily, meaningful activity, you need to find it. If you can’t find a job, volunteer. Idleness will kill you, slowly.
• Initiate. Instead of complaining that you can’t go see your friends, organize a Zoom call. Call a neighbor, take a socially distanced walk. It’s legal. I checked. Don’t wait for others to serve you; serve them first.

Friends, God is good. God is sovereign. Life is hard, always has been. Own your hope. Own your intake. Own your output. Do Not Be Afraid.