John Flavel & Covid-19
Around ten days before the UK Prime Minister announced lockdown on the country in light of the coronavirus pandemic that is sweeping across the nations of the world I was reading ‘All Things Made New – John Flavel for the Christian Life’.
I have been using this excellent little book as part of my daily devotions and on the morning in question I came to chapter 10, ‘Trust God in Tough Times’ part of a series of sermons Flavel preached based on the text Isaiah 26:20, ‘Go my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by’.
How those words struck me as we entered into a period of confinement in our homes and yet they are words of immense comfort as Flavel teaches us how to live trusting in Christ through tough times.
Shutting the doors behind us excludes that which is outside and helps focus our minds and thoughts on the Lord God of heaven and earth.
God’s Power
In the midst of fear and anxiety Flavel reminds us in this sermon of God’s omnipotent and all sufficient power. It is the room that is most safe and secure for distressed believers in a stormy day. ‘The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths’. (Psalm 135:6)
Recent newspaper articles have not been slow to point out that the current crisis show world leaders to be powerless in this pandemic as the nations grind to a halt. Flavel reminds us that God’s power is the supreme power and an everlasting power. ‘Time will decay the power of the strongest creature, and make him faint and feeble, but the Creator of the ends of the earth will not grow tired’.
God’s Promises
No one knows how long this present situation will last but we can be sure that it will have a major impact on life for most of 2020 and possibly beyond. The economy, employment or unemployment together with a recovery of normal day to day living will take some time. It’s at times like this that believers need to mediate on God’s Word and dwell on those exceeding rich and precious promises.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”
Many promises have been made by our political leaders, promises of better days ahead when all this is over but they are promises that may not be kept.
We have the sure promises of God that will never fail. His children have a future that is safe and secure, an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled.
God’s Providence
God is working out his purposes, the key verse is Romans 8:28 where we are told that God ‘works all things together for good to those who love him and to those who are called according to his purpose’. That’s the comfort Christian people have in the present situation. All things are in God’s hands and all things are under his control for those who love him and to those who are called according to his purpose. Thomas Watson exhorts those who are effectually called to honour our high calling, and ‘to walk in a manner worthy of the calling into which you have been called’. (Ephesians 4:1)
God’s children in a time of crisis are to show a quiet confidence in the Lord and to exhibit that rare jewel of Christian contentment.
God’s Peace
As we contemplate the power, promises and providence of God in the midst of a distressing and uncertain time we have an assurance found earlier in this chapter, ‘You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you’. Isaiah 26:3.
When fear and anxiety close in on us let us take note of this ‘perfect peace’ and cast all our cares and anxieties on him because he cares for us.
The concluding words are taken again from Thomas Watson, ‘What though the sea roar, though the earth be unquiet, though the stars are shaken out of their place, you need not fear. You are called, and therefore are sure to be crowned’.
