By Jason Smith

For many of us, the Coronavirus has become a source for fear and anxiety. In addition to the countless large events and meetings that have been canceled across the world and in the U.S., many churches have felt the need to cancel services and small group meetings, including my own.

Even for those who aren’t experiencing all-out panic at the current crisis, there is a growing undercurrent of uncertainty and bewilderment about how to proceed with life. Since I work at a hospital, I’ve seen firsthand the level of frustration and panic that has arisen in response to the spread of this disease. I’ve also spoken to many Christians who have said, to one degree or another, they don’t understand why God would allow such a terrible disease like the Coronavirus to spread.

The first thing I would want to say to my fellow Christians is that God really is in control of every circumstance we face in life. Even if all the public health and safety officials, human leaders and government officials seem incapable of stopping the spread of the Coronavirus, God is just as sovereign over His world today as He always has been. The Coronavirus does not pose a threat to God and His reign.

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all” (1 Chronicles 29:11-12a).

There is a part of us that actually despises the truth of God’s sovereign reign over all. We love the thought of having control over our own lives and to admit God’s sovereignty is to cede ultimate control to someone else. People may say things like, “God didn’t have anything to do with this disease” or “God is trying His best to stop it,” as if to defend God in the matter. These statements may come from good intentions, but to deny God’s absolute sovereignty is to deny the plain teaching of Scripture.

Consider just a handful of passages that plainly affirm God’s limitless reign over all:

“The Lord kills and brings to life;
    He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
    He brings low and He exalts.” (1 Samuel 2:6-7)

“Our God is in the heavens, and He does as He wishes.” (Psalm 115:3, NLT)

“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all.” (Psalm 103:19, NASB)

“But you, Belshazzar… have not humbled yourself… Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of heaven… But you did not honor the God who holds in his hand your life and all your ways.” (Daniel 5:22-23, my emphasis)

It’s also important to affirm from Scripture (rather than just assume) God’s goodness and love. The psalmist tells God, “You are good, and You do what is good” (Psalm 119:68, HCSB). Similarly, we read, “For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal; His faithfulness endures through all generations” (Psalm 100:5, HCSB).

So, we come back to the question: Why has God allowed the Coronavirus to spread? While I don’t pretend to have all the answers, Scripture does offer us a place to begin when considering this important question.

In the story of Scripture, we find that the human race first fell into ruin because we flouted God’s right to rule over us as His creatures. The original temptation was “to be like god” and reject His lordship over our lives (Genesis 3:5). When we cut ourselves off from the One who is the Source of life, the inevitable result is death. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). In fact, suffering of all kinds — including viral diseases — is the result of the fall.

Because “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose,” we also know that God must have a good purpose in allowing the Coronavirus to spread (Romans 8:28, NASB). While we tend to see things only in terms of their short-term consequences, God is able to take the long view and see the good that can come out of pain and loss. That’s why it’s so important to affirm God’s sovereign rule in the midst of crises, because that is the only thing that can give meaning and purpose to what we’re going through. Knowing that our loving God is working all things for our good offers us tremendous hope in the midst of so much uncertainty.

When some Jews told Jesus about certain Galileans that the Roman governor Pilate slaughtered, they wondered if this indicated they died because they were a bad lot that especially deserved it. Jesus replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:2-5, NIV).

Jesus is saying that when you see terrible suffering around you, don’t merely assume that suffering only happens to the worst of us. See it as another reason to be aware of your own need to get right with God. We tend to push away all thought of death and eternity in the everyday grind of life. So when a fast-spreading viral disease affects our loved ones and us, we feel especially vulnerable and aware of our own mortality. But the reality of suffering and death has always been there, even when we don’t allow it space in our consciousness.

C. S. Lewis said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”[1] That is precisely Jesus’ point. God allows pain and suffering and diseases to get our attention, to alert us of our desperate need for Him. Suffering is a call to repentance. We should recognize times of health and peace as undeserved gifts of God’s common grace.

D. A. Carson writes, “It is a mark of our lostness that we invert these two. We think we deserve the times of blessing and prosperity, and that the times of war and disaster are not only unfair but come perilously close to calling into question God’s goodness or his power — even, perhaps, his very existence. Jesus simply did not see it that way.”[2]

What a comfort it is to know that God did not abandon us to this disease-ridden world. He actually entered into this mess and experienced the worst kind of suffering when He went to the cross on Golgotha Hill. On that hill, the real hammer of sin’s judgment came down on Him, so that we — through faith — might be spared. Through His death and resurrection, Christ provides a way for us to live forever one day in a place that is free of all suffering and disease. On that day, God “will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4, NIV).

In the end, we should see the Coronavirus as a summons to seek refuge in the God who made us and in the Savior who suffered in our place.

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[1] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 93.

[2] D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 67.