Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to a special-edition series of the Kingdom Perspective.

How should we respond to the coronavirus?

With confidence that God is working all things together for good.

Remember that scene in The Lord of the Rings where Frodo is lamenting to Gandalf about the trouble that has come upon him because of the Ring.

Frodo: “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened”

Gandalf replies: “So do all who live to see such times; but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.”

Tolkein’s point, though subtle, is brilliant. Evil shall not have the final say, because there is an intention at work in our world that is higher than the intention of evil. Indeed, the coronavirus may work evil. But God, the sovereign maker of heaven and earth, intends and is working good for us through it. Though the devil has the power to twist creation to our destruction, God has the power to “twist” evil to our salvation.

How do we know this? Look to the cross. On the cross, the evil of our sin, the malice of humanity and the wickedness of the devil conspired to bring about the most heinous act of all time—the unjust murder of the Holy Son of God. But, this was not the final word. The gospel is always the final word. The cross was not merely a conspiracy of evil; it was the conspiracy of God’s love. Listen to Scripture: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Such hope out of despair, good out of evil, inherent in the gospel, gives those who trust it undying confidence.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.