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I didn’t think we’d be giving up this much for Lent, but here we are.
Due to the highly contagious nature of COVID-19, vast segments of the world have been brought inside. We have given up seeing friends, going to restaurants, going to work, going to Church. With all that time inside, we can’t help but start to ask ‘Why?’.
Why did Coronavirus happen to the world?
That’s the nub. As Christians, we have a particular inclination to ask why something is the way it is. As everything comes from God, everything is meaningful. But what is meaningful about COVID-19?
Frustratingly, there isn’t really an answer. This isn’t a plague sent from on high. It just kinda happened.
I know that the title of this post is ‘Understanding Coronavirus Through Christianity’, but what if we flipped it around? Instead, it may be more helpful and healthy so put our energies towards understanding Christianity through Coronavirus.
One way we can start to do that is by turning to the oldest book in the Bible. The book of Job.
One great mystery is that none really knows for certain who wrote the book of Job. It could have been written anytime between 2100-500 BC. Maybe even earlier. What we do know, though, is the story of it.
For anyone unfamiliar, here’s a quick synopsis of the story of Job.
“There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright”* is how the book begins. Job is that rarest of things, a thoroughly good person. He’s also materially content. He has ten children, thousands of livestock, great swaths of land and many servants. He was considered one of the greatest people in his area. Everything was going well for Job, and in that success, the Devil saw an opportunity. He made a wager with God. He bets that Job is only faithful to God because his life is so good. If everything was taken away from Job, he would soon curse God. God wins the bet. Job loses all his property and children but remains faithful. Then his health is taken away from him, but still he remains faithful.
All of this happens in the first few pages. What then follows is a series of poetic monolingües from Job, from his friends, urging him to give up, and then finally from God. These monologues cover the meaning of suffering, the purpose of hope, the importance of salvation, and man’s place in the world.
Suffice to say, it’s quite a complex read. But what we learn from it can quite simply be this: The reason for hardship is not to make meaning from it, but to better understand our place in God’s creation.
The book ends with Job’s fortune restored, but not before he understands that not all meaning is destined to be revealed:
“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge’? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
In this season of pandemic and self-isolation, perhaps our purpose is not to frame Coronavirus through faith, but to reacquaint ourselves with true faith in light of what is happening right now. In doing that we might find more of what our purpose is. That could be renewing a drive to help others, or using our gifts and talents to benefit and bring hope to people who need it.
To help you put Christianity into practice, we’ll be putting together guides, ideas and practices for self-isolation. Click here to see some other ways that you can bring good news and hope throughout Coronavirus.
Discover some of the brilliant Christian books and resources to help guide you in Self-isolation.
Return to the list of practices for Christians during Coronavirus: https://www.eden.co.uk/blog/7-practices-for-christians-during-coronavirus-p1784105
*all quotes taken from the ESV Bible
