For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isaiah 54:10

Yesterday evening I realized I had become anxious, irritated and agitated over the Coronavirus Pandemic.  Since no one I know has been diagnosed with the virus, in some ways, it hasn’t become real to me yet, nevertheless I found myself being fretful and fearful. I don’t feel guilty for that, I just feel human.  However I consciously decided about 6 P.M., “hey I want to change my state.” “I want to be in a state of peace not panic.” So, I went to the gym and worked out really hard. I came home and took a shower. I went to bed. Vince Lombardi famously said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”  So I slept, got up at 5. A.M, put on the coffee,  got in my Bible and prayed. Guess what, I feel calm again, not giddy, not even joyful, just calm.  I’ll take that.

Isaiah 54:10 describes the Lord as compassionate and as having an immovable “covenant of peace” over us.  Implicit in this passage is exactly what peace is and what peace is not.

• Peace is not an absence of calamities.

It seems to me that Americans are rapidly becoming utopianist.  That is to say that we are imagining it is actually possible through technology, ingenuity, science and medicine to have a world free of calamity and suffering.  My father’s generation was called, “the silent generation.” That’s fascinating because they suffered the Stock Market Crash, The Great Depression, WWII and the Korean War. It’s as though they understood calamity and suffering was a part of the price of being human, so they seldom talked about it. 

Isaiah 54:10 said, “the mountains may depart and the hill’s may be removed.”  If anything is clear in scripture it’s that we will have calamities, problems and struggles. 1 Peter 4:12 says, “My friends, do not be surprised at the terrible trouble which now comes to test you. Do not think that something strange is happening to you.”  So let’s define peace.

• Peace is not passivity.

Throughout the Bible we see examples of God warning people about coming crisis so they would prepare for them.  Joseph led the nation of Egypt in stockpiling food for the coming famine. Members of the early church sold excess properties they owned to provide for the saints who’s conversion to Christ had caused them to be disowned by their families. In Acts chapter 6 the church responded to neglected widows by appointing a team of deacons to expand their feeding program.  

In none of these examples, and there are dozens more, was there panic. Neither was there inaction when it came to saving life.  It may sound spiritual to say, “oh we’re all going to die anyway, “ but it’s not Biblical. If you want to be a witness of God’s love to a hurting world, you gotta care about natural life. 

• Peace is the inner conviction that I am fully known and fully loved by God.

I’m sorry if that’s too simple for you, but I am just a simple man. I believe my heavenly father loves me very much and whether in life or death, he will take care of me. Because of the assurance of his compassion, balanced by his wisdom I am going to divide my task today into two categories; the ones I can handle and the ones I can’t.  To the best of my cognitive ability I am going to hand the stresses that I can’t handle or control to my heavenly father. For example: I don’t like what Covid-19 is doing to the stock market. I’m concerned about “community spread.” I don’t like how it’s become a political sledgehammer. But I can’t control any of that. However, I can prepare my Sunday sermon, have coffee with a guy who needs encouragement, meet with my tech team to make sure we are ready to livestream the service for those high risk people who should stay home, prepare a Coronavirus statement for my congregation and run a few errands.

I will add, I need to perform all those tasks peacefully and try to make every person I meet today feel encouraged. I will focus on not being impatient with those I think are overreacting and not act irritated with those who act passive. I will pause many times to breathe a prayer for everyone who is suffering from the Coronavirus, for my President, the CDC and health workers who are on the front lines of this disaster.  As I do all of that I will do my best to lean into “the covenant of peace that shall not be removed.”