Episode 49 – Victory over the Virus Part 2
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script: (Bible quotes from the New International Version)
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through [Christ] who gives me strength.
Philippians, Chapter 4, verses 12 and 13, New International Version
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.”
Proverbs, Chapter 9, verses 10 and 11, New International Version
All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands;
1 Samuel, Chapter 17, verse 47, New International Version
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VK: Good Morning. I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m here today with RD Fierro, author and founder of Crystal Sea Books. As we had announced in a previous episode we had planned to start a new series on Anchored by Truth to focus on one of the strongest lines of evidence for the Bible’s inspiration: fulfilled prophecy. But given all that’s going on in our community and nation right now we thought that we should set that aside for a moment and take some time to meditate on some of what the Bible says to us about how we as a nation, a community, and as individuals can achieve victory over the virus. RD, care to make some introductory comments?
RD: I’d love to. Last week we talked about one of the most important and reassuring promises in the Bible that is found in Deuteronomy 31:6: that God will never leave us or forsake. Well, given that God is omnipotent when God makes an unconditional promise, which this one is, there is no power in the heavens or earth that can stop God from following through. So, we have an absolute assurance that God will always be with us which I think is one of the most comforting things we can know in challenging times like these. But today we want to follow up on that basic assurance and see that, in addition to His presence that God gives us everything else we need. So today, we want to talk about how He provides wisdom, strength, and contentment.
VK: Well, those sure sound like qualities we all need in times like this so I can’t wait to see how we can all be sure we possess them. But first, we’re going to do something a little different than we usually do on Anchored by Truth. As always we’re going to end the show with prayer but today we also want to open with a special prayer for the safety and protection of some of the most important soldiers in this battle that we’re in: our doctors, nurses, and other medical and health care workers and the first responders who are placing themselves between the danger and their fellow citizens.
---- Prayer for Health Care Workers and First Responders
VK: That’s a great prayer and I hope many people will either take it upon themselves to pray for the doctors, nurses, and police that they know or better still, adapt it to their special situations. You know Christ has his people in all kinds of different places and therefore each of us has a unique ability to bring special intercession for those we know about in our own orbits. Ok. Let’s move on to talking about how all of us can acquire or develop virtues that will be really helpful as we continue to confront the Covid-19 virus. Where do you want to start?
RD: Well, with another very simple observation that I think is spectacularly important and so easy to forget at times like this.
VK: And that is...
RD: That ultimately this battle isn’t yours or mine. It’s the Lord’s. That’s not to say that each of us doesn’t have an important role to play in the battle but none of us individually can control the outcome of the battle. That’s up to the Lord. That is a very difficult thought in our culture where we’re constantly told that we can all control our own destiny. We can control much about our lives. What we can control we should. In this situation we should wash our hands, practice social distancing, practice good sanitation, etc. But ultimately, as David said to Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:47, it wasn’t a sword or spear that would defeat Goliath. The battle was the Lord’s.
VK: And fighting this Covid-19 virus can sometimes feel like we’re David versus Goliath, but the good news is that if we rely on God, just as David did, the Lord promises to fight in the battle on our behalf and He can deliver us just as He delivered David.
RD: Exactly. And that brings us to our next point. We won’t rely on the Lord if we don’t know that the Lord will help us. That’s one of the biggest reasons that the Bible tells us in Proverbs 9:10 that we heard in our opening scriptures that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Well, we all need wisdom in times like this, and if we’re going to have it we can only start where the Bible tells us to start – by fearing the Lord.
VK: I think that’s a difficult verse for many people because we always hear that God loves us and cares for us. So, it’s hard to think that we’re supposed to fear Him to develop wisdom.
RD: I think Martin Luther did a good job of shining a bright light on what this verse means when he said that there were two different kinds of fear we can experience. Luther termed those servile fear and filial fear. Servile fear is the kind of fear that a prisoner has for a vicious jailer or a slave has for a wicked and evil master – fear of abuse, mistreatment, or torture. Filial fear is the kind of reverent respect children should have for their parents where they respect their parents’ role in providing and caring for them, but they have to know that they have a responsibility for obeying their instructions. Good parents will try to help their children understand that need for authority but if the child is getting ready to put their hand on the hot stove the child needs to have enough regard for their parent to stop when the parent yells “stop” without making an explanation first. We will never gain wisdom if we don’t start by understanding the proper relationship between God and us. But notice that Proverbs 9:10 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Developing wisdom doesn’t end there.
VK: Right. In fact James 1:5 tells the church that if any of lacks wisdom we should pray to the Lord and He will give us the wisdom that we’re seeking. I’ve always thought that’s such a powerful promise. Again, that promise is unconditional to believers. If we ask God for wisdom he will provide it.
RD: And naturally, we should avail ourselves of all the other means of developing wisdom, chief among them regular Bible study. And even though there are a group of books in the Bible referred to as Wisdom literature (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon) that doesn’t mean we get gain wisdom only from those books. Our wisdom will increase when we read and study any part of the Bible. And here’s a key. Studying the Bible will help you gain wisdom that isn’t available from any other source. Remember the Bible has a supernatural source whereas no other book does.
VK: So what you’re saying is that when God sees us studying the Bible and He knows our intent – because He knows everything – is to gain wisdom he can amplify our wisdom in other areas beyond those that we just specifically studied? That’s truly amazing to think about. God is supernatural and transcendent so He is never confined to our human limitations when He decides to help us as we seek to be obedient to Him. So what about strength? How can we begin to develop the kind of strength that helps us persevere?
RD: Well, there are a number of verses that help us to see that Christ is abundantly willing to help us find the strength we need in times like this. Philippians 4:13 which we heard in our opening scriptures is surely one of the best known and loved.
VK: But today you’re thinking about two other, probably less widely studied passages aren’t you?
RD: I am. I’d like our listeners to think about Habakkuk 3:19 which says that “the Lord Almighty is my strength (God’s Word Translation),” and Nehemiah 8:10 which says that “the joy of the Lord is [our] strength (New American Standard Bible).” Notice that both of these verses, like Philippians 4:13, tie our strength, our personal strength, directly to God. So, it is obvious right away that any attempts we make to be strong in our might are doomed to failure. Now for some that might sound defeatist, but it is actually a clear statement of the path to victory.
VK: And the Apostle Paul gave us that path in the clearest possible terms in Chapter 12 of 2 Corinthians when he recounts that God told him that God’s power was strongest when Paul was weak. And Paul went on to proclaim that then he would boast in his, Paul’s, weakness. In 2 Corinthians Paul made that statement which is so peculiar to a lot of people that when he was weak he was strong. But thinking about those verses from Habakkuk and Nehemiah you start to see what God was telling Paul and what Paul learned from the exchange.
RD: Exactly. Remember back to David’s statement in 2 Samuel when David confronted Goliath. David told Goliath the battle was the Lord’s. So when we try to confront our own Goliaths, whether individual ones like fear and anxiety, or collective ones like the Covid-19 virus, we have to turn to the Lord. The Lord is our strength so if we try to fight the battle on our own what we’re essentially doing is telling the Lord to step out of the way and let us handle the problem, our Goliath.
VK: Yikes. That’s not something any Christian would ever want to do, is it? But how then do we turn to the Lord in such a way that it is clear that we want to engage His strength not our own?
RD: Well, I know it seems simple but the best way to bring the Lord’s strength to bear on our behalf, as either individuals or as a community, is to ask Him to help.
VK: You’re talking about prayer then, but I know a lot of people who will say that when they pray they don’t really feel like they get an answer.
RD: And that’s a real problem because when you begin to confront the world, the flesh, and the devil in the strength of the Lord those enemies will not surrender immediately or easily. Remember that in Ephesians chapter 6 Paul told us that our enemies include the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. And even notable believers down through history have had to struggle for the victory. Daniel says he prayed for 3 solid weeks before he got his answer to the question he was asking about the timing of the Jews delivery from captivity. And even Jesus had to struggle with Satan in the wilderness. The key is three-fold. First, turning to the Bible and second, persistence.
VK: You know a lot of people may not realize that when Satan placed the temptations in front of Jesus, Jesus replied each time with scripture by quoting three different passages from Deuteronomy. So even Jesus used God’s word to defeat His enemy. And the fact that Daniel prayed for 3 solid weeks proved that he was being persistent in prayer. So what’s the third point you’re thinking about?
RD: Don’t allow your feelings to overwhelm the facts. As you said a lot of people feel like they’re not getting an answer to their prayers. Maybe Daniel felt that way after two weeks of prayer or even 20 days. We had one episode of Anchored by Truth where a guest told us that his wife had been praying for him for 19 years before his conversion, but she never gave up.
VK: I remember that. What a remarkable example of persistence in prayer. I hope we can all follow that kind of an example.
RD: That’s certainly my prayer and I suspect a lot of people will pray for that as well. And we’re already starting to see many signs of hope – therapeutic approaches that were unknown 3 or 4 weeks ago, large chunks of our population changing behavior, and major companies retooling their factories to make things our medical professionals need. But again, as Christians we have to keep returning to the orders that we get from our commander. The battle is the Lord’s but David still grabbed the rocks and swung the sling. We can and should pray and trust in the Lord while we’re taking action.
VK: You believe that the Canadian poet Ethelwyn Wetherald captured that spirit brilliantly in her famous poem entitled “My orders are to fight,” don’t you?
RD: I do. Wetherald wrote, “My orders are to fight. Then if I bleed or fail, or strongly win, what matter’s it. God only doth prevail. The servant craveth naught, except to serve with might. I was not told to win or lose. My orders are to fight.”
VK: I love that poem. It succinctly captures what we all need right now. We need to take the actions that will help stop the spread of the virus from a human standpoint, but we should look to the Lord to provide the victory. And when we do, through prayer and meditating on the Bible’s promises, we can rest in the knowledge that the Lord will come to our aid.
RD: And that brings us to the final quality that we all need to be cultivating right now, contentment. In our opening scripture we heard the Apostle Paul tell us that he had learned to be content whether he was living in abundance or want. And the way he could do that was because he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him. Earlier in that same chapter Paul noted that the way to combat anxiety was through expressing thankfulness to God. So, as strange as it seems to us, the way we fight through anxiety to contentment is by turning to God with thanksgiving.
VK: That is so important but it can also be o-so-hard to do. When we find ourselves dealing with struggles and loss like with this virus it can be immeasurably hard to return to being grateful, though I think many of our listeners really are.
RD: I’m actually confident that they are.
VK: How can you be confident?
RD: Anchored by Truth is built on a premise that’s completely counter-cultural. We trust entirely in the word of God – in its inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility. Because we do, we trust its prescriptions to obtain the means we need in times like this. So anyone who listens to Anchored by Truth is already the kind of person that will do the difficult things like expressing gratitude for the Lord’s kindness even in the midst of difficult time. Now notice, a close reading of Chapter 4 of Philippians doesn’t say to give thanks for the difficulties but to give thanks in them, while we are experiencing them. Suffering and struggle are real and the Lord knows that. What He wants, though, is for us to grow in Christ by growing in our trust that He will provide. It’s the trust in Him that produces contentment.
VK: We’ve covered a lot today so let’s do a brief review. To gain wisdom we have to start by understanding the appropriate relationship we have with God, which is one of respect, regard, and obedience – just as we would for an earthly parent. We then need to pray for any lack of wisdom we see in our lives. To gain in strength we have to have joy in Him and for Him – and we have to cease trying to win the fight using our own resources. The battle, the big battle is the Lord. But that doesn’t mean we’re passive. It means we trust Him for the results as we take action. And to gain contentment we have to consciously express gratitude for the provisions Jesus has made for us even when our circumstances may incline us to not feel grateful. We have to trust the fact of the Bible’s promises over our own feelings. Well, let’s close as we always do with prayer. Today we’re going to be persist
