Trust in Trying Times

“Be Not Afraid” – God

“Be not afraid” appears over and over in the Bible. It is God’s way of saying, “Trust me, please”. I have heard that these words appear once for each day of the year, 365 times. That says something about how often we as people need to be reminded. Trust Him, always, but especially in trying times.

Trust in Man or Trust in God?

I think because I am slow to pay attention, God tends to use repetition to speak to me. This past week alone, I have seen or heard the concept of trust more than ever before. This was capped last night by reading this quote:

“Man’s astonishing progress in technical know-how has far outdistanced his spiritual growth. Man has become more important than God. In our man-centered society we are forced to rely on man as our savior of all ills. Yet deep inside we are only too aware of our own finite powers and that of other human beings, even when that other is an expert in his or her field. This, of course, can only create worry and anxiety.”

Born Only Once: The Miracle of Affirmation by Conrad W. Baars, MD

Technical Know-How vs. Spiritual Growth

As we know, faith and reason are not opposed to one another. They work together and intermingle to lead us to closer to God, and we need both of them.

This quote is not saying that we need spiritual growth alone. Rather, spiritual growth should progress alongside technical know-how in order to reveal the greater purpose and meaning along the way.

Man-Centered vs. God-Centered

However, Dr. Baars pointed out even back in 1975, that culture has come to trust solely in our own intellectual abilities for themselves. Thus, we can fall into the trap of praising and worshiping men more than God. We no longer see science as the beautiful gift of God that it is. We don’t dive under the surface to see the underlying and real movements of God and how he uses these discoveries to draw us closer to Him.

Instead, we look to the experts. We ask them things like, “How long with this virus last?”, “How bad will it get?”, “How can we be saved?”. Deep down we realize that these experts are at their day jobs just like us. They go home to their families just like us. And though they are doing their best, the experts are finite in their capabilities, just like us.

Once we realize that mankind is not going to save itself forever, another quote becomes even clearer:

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee”

Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

Trust for Our Health

It is clear now that the United States is about to (and already is in some locations) take on a serious hit due to COVID-19. This is serious and scary. A lot of people are getting very ill very quickly.

Katie and I have been following along, and each day there are statistics and numbers that come out for cases, hospitalizations, and deaths due to this disease. On one hand, people are responding with panic, on the other hand, disregard. In the middle I believe is a trusting respect for the risk that COVID-19 poses, but also that God is still present.

Trust is to believe that someone or something is reliable and strong. It can also be described as a virtue between being naive or cynical.

This trust can be practiced by following social guidelines that have been put in place to help us slow the pace of infections, so as to not be naive and think that you and those around you are immune. It can also be practiced by not hoarding and hiding in our closets with an N-95 respirator and our TP. It would be cynical to assume that everyone and everything is out to get us.

There is a balance that we need to find in living with joy and peace rather than fear in the midst of a spreading illness.

Trust in Our Communities

Sharing of Resources

I already touched on the hoarding. It is sad to me that this era will forever be remembered as a time when stores were empty of toilet paper and sanitizer. Nothing about what has been happening should have made people fear for their supplies. Shipments of goods were still happening, though maybe slowed by high demands of medical equipment. Demand of these goods went up, though unnecessarily. A normal amount of supplies in the home would suffice for the same amount of time.

Rather than flocking to the stores to buy up what we could get our hands on, imagine if the community shared their goods and helped one another. What if we could have said, “Hey, I have a few extra things here, and you have some there, lets work together.

Last week I read that a 90+ year old man who could not get the supplies he needed. What if, instead of writing that article, the author instead reached out to the man and let him have one of their rolls?

Sharing of Time

Along with the implementation of social distancing has come the closing of businesses and cancelling of all events. This has been difficult, and I feel especially for those who have worked so hard on the logistics for big events that have now been postponed or cancelled.

While events cannot go on, we can try our best to reach out to others. One of the corporal works of mercy is to visit the sick and imprisoned. I think a phone call to friends and loved ones who are in self-quarantine is a great way to practice this.

While the cancellation of events is rough, especially for extroverts, it can really increase the amount and quality of family time. This is an opportunity to build up the domestic church!

In these trying times, lets be good neighbors, give generously where we can, and trust that God will provide for us what we need.

Trust for Our Economy

For the financially interested, you are aware that COVID-19 is affecting the economy. The stock market has been the biggest topic of conversation in the media after COVID cases and toilet paper.

The market goes up and down often. It is extremely interesting to follow, but it is also very easy to be too emotionally invested in what this all means for our money.

While this is not as important as the lives being lost, it can still be scary for families to need to cut back their budgets due to layoffs. There are quite a few businesses and entire industries that are unable to operate currently. Others are having to get creative about how they operate their business.

The best advice I have heard so far has been to do your best to keep operating with the plans that you originally made before all of this. Whether it was paying off debts, saving up funds, tithing, or investing, try your best to keep up what you were doing and adjust where you need to.

So the economy is the least of our worries. It will come back, and many households, organizations and companies will be stronger and more prepared for having experienced the difficulty. Hopefully, we will all be more trusting in God to provide for our needs.

Hope and Trust in Trying Times

Though all of this is scary, we do know that the spread of COVID-19 cannot last forever. With the end of the virus will come recovery of the sick, recovery of our healthcare system, restoration of community events, the end of the layoffs, and industries impacted resuming business.

Reflection: Do Not Worry, All Things Will Be Given

In the meantime, if you are like me, you find yourself a little concerned with everything around you. Concern can be for health and safety, for the economy, or even for those flights we have scheduled in a few months. While you are stuck in the house wondering about the world, I would recommend praying Lectio Devina with the following passage:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?

Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?

Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.

But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.  

If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ \

All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.

Matthew Chapter 6, Verses 25-33

Pray for More Trust

Let’s have trust that God is stronger, more reliable, and has a greater overarching plan for all of us that even a pandemic could not overthrow. When you find it difficult to trust, pray for it. God loves to grant what we ask for.

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To see my last post on COVID-19, see here.

Praying for you all. St. Corona, pray for us.