We Can Find Peace During Pandemic

My last post was How God Can Use COVID-19 to Bless Us. In this post I’ll offer steps to find peace during the pandemic.

Look Away

First, although it’s hard not to watch the news which so often seems like a slow-motion train wreak (I cannot look, but I cannot look away!), we shouldn’t spend too much time watching the news, or thinking about how many are sick or dying, or worrying about how the economy is doing, and so on. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t watch the news at all; of course we need to be informed. I’m just saying that if we dwell on it then we are going to be anxious.

And He Began to Sink

Second, we need to focus on Jesus. We all know that Jesus walked on water. As He was walking on the water towards the disciples we read in Matthew 14:28-30: “And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.” That would be awesome but it doesn’t last. In the next verses we read, “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” This wasn’t a rhetorical question. As D. A. Carson put it, this helps both Peter and the reader recognize that doubts disappear before a strict inquiry into their cause.”¹ Jesus wouldn’t have been impressed if Peter had replied, “The storm scared me.” If Peter had kept focusing on Jesus, he wouldn’t have started to sink. Same with us. We need to be “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). God is in control.

Lessons From the Unpardonable Sin Trial

I became a Christian two days before I turned 13 and a couple of months prior to turning 15 I thought I had committed the unpardonable sin of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (see my article on “What Is the Unpardonable Sin?” that I did for the Christian Research Journal). I feared I was going to hell and was severely depressed! My parents took me to see pastors for help, but the pastors were unconvincing (I don’t think they knew what it was). Well, to make a long story short (I talk about this more on YouTube), I found that my only help was to read verses that told me that I was saved if I believed in Jesus. So I typed out a page of verses. One of my favorites was John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” I’d think, well, I hear Jesus’s words, and I believe God sent Jesus, so the Bible says I have eternal life. When I would begin to get desperate about going to hell, I would quote those verses in a loop until I felt better.

So, if you get worried, memorize comforting verses and quote them to yourself in a loop. If you wake up at 3:37 a.m. and fears rush into your head (that happens to me sometimes), quote comforting verses to yourself. For example, I may quote Proverbs 3:5-6 to myself in a loop: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” And I’ll keep doing that and usually it won’t be long until I fall asleep (makes more sense than counting sheep).

The Unexpected Bonus

My enduring this trial had an unexpected bonus! Prior to becoming a Christian I was an undisciplined, disrespectful, shoplifting, porn-loving, punk with a GPA hovering around 1.9 (I think the teachers were being generous). Well, after months of having to quote verses to myself in a loop when I got fearful, I not only had a strong assurance of salvation but I realized that I had the beginnings of a disciplined mind! I learned I could control my thoughts! As I say in my book, Why Does God Allow Evil?, our biggest challenge is that you and I have got to learn to reign in our brain. I’m still learning!

Let’s focus on Jesus! He will take care of us and we can find peace during the pandemic!

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1. D. A. Carson, Matthew, Mark, Luke, TEBC vol. 8 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984), 344. [↩]