Perhaps it IS Explicable

Theologian NT Wright wrote this about the current coronavirus pandemic: https://tinyurl.com/tufj2yu 

I am familiar with Wright. I’ve read a couple of his books. And I will not presume to juxtapose my understanding of Scripture with his. He is a giant. 

Wright suggests what some are saying in response to this global pestilence is a knee-jerk reaction. He also suggests the answer to the current epidemic is inexplicable. But I suggest sometimes things like this ARE explicable. 

Perhaps because Nancy and I are currently reading through Jeremiah that the prophet’s words are so fresh in my mind.  I am thinking particularly of what he says to the nation in chapter seven. I encourage you to read the entire chapter in context, but here are verses 8-10: 

“Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? 

And so I ask myself, will we kill 3,000 babies every day in our abortion clinics (not to mention what happens every day around the world), and say “We are delivered”?  Will we enthrone homosexuality and so-called same sex ‘marriage’ and spoon-feed such perversions to the nation, and especially to children – and say, “We are delivered”? Will we ensconce politicians and religious leaders in such high positions of authority who, in turn, encourage lawlessness and hatred and blasphemies against God and His people – and then say, “We are delivered”? 

Of course, Jeremiah is not the only prophet who warned God’s people of judgment for their national sins. There was Ezekiel. And Amos. And Habakkuk, etc. – all of whom said similarly about God’s judgement being slow because of His love for us, but judgement does come when we have gone just so far. 

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:  “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 

So, that’s why I – and apparently, based on a report in the April 2 issue of the Jerusalem Post – why many people now wonder aloud if what we are seeing on a global scale is some sort of wakeup call from God who loves us but is not happy with how we have been conducting ourselves. 

Perhaps it is time to practice personal and national repentance as a remedy to this current crisis.