Times are hard, people. The pain and weariness of enduring a pandemic has been a reality for almost a year now. If you are like me, the statistics of death rates, new variants, and vaccination shortfalls are all a blur in your head. Don’t let this “virus fatigue” drown out reality. Here in the US and definitely where I am in Tennessee, it has never been more dangerous in terms of getting and spreading this coronavirus. I wrote the following last Spring, when I was mystified and angered by how many people refused to wear masks. I had just finished spending half a year studying Genesis and was beginning to dig into the Sermon on the Mount. What drove me to write (just as catharsis for myself, really) was the warped view of fear I was hearing among my white evangelical peers. I’ll just say that the book of Genesis is not short on natural disasters to look to for examples.
Noah was warned by God of a massive flood that would kill almost everyone. God instructed Noah to do something that would save him as well as his family. Building and then living in an ark with a whole bunch of animals could not have been enjoyable. Yet Noah did it, as Hebrews 11 says, in fear of God and for the saving of his household. Noah did not fear the flood in an anxious, cowering way, but with a healthy respect for the destruction God could bring and a faith that God could and would bring it. I think we can learn something from this story in our situation with the pandemic right now. I have heard Christians say that we, as Christians, should not “live in fear” of this virus. The way they act this out is living their lives as they please, not bothering to acknowledge the reality of our situation.
There is a difference in having reverent fear of the Lord and living in fear of what the world can do to us. Abiding by restrictions that may be uncomfortable and wearisome in order to reduce the burden of sickness and death on others is living in love, not fear. No, God may not be speaking directly to us, saying, “Wear a mask,” or “Maintain social distance,” but he does call us to love others as we love ourselves. If we believe that we should imitate Jesus and thus be willing to lay down our lives for the good of our neighbor, why is it so difficult to wear a mask in order to protect thousands of people from dying? I pray that I keep in myself a reverent fear of God, not doubting his power, both to save and to destroy.
Without Jesus, I could not stand before God and live. With him, I have access to the inner room, and I am able to speak to God myself. How can I both stand in the glory of God and fail to obey the second greatest commandment? I do not fear what SARS-CoV-2 can do to me, but I do fear God, and through this reverence, I long to please him. I don’t believe that simply sitting back and enjoying his blessing accomplishes that. I want to become more like him and that involves work. That involves enduring trials. And if, by faith, someone once lived in a boat for over a year in order to save his household, I can wear a mask in the hope that it will save my neighbors. After all, not everyone on earth lives without the need to fear death.
And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry.
-Genesis 8:13
Before the Fire 