Why?

We have all been asking “How” questions such as “How do we stop the spread of COVID-19?” How do we get back to normal? How long before we can all go back to normal? etc. While doing my quiet time and Bible reading, I realized that instead of concentrating on the “Hows,” we should start asking the “Why” question. Why did COVID-19 happen? Why is God allowing this pandemic to destroy lives and nations? Why am I going through what I am going through? I was reading the book of Jeremiah and I have to say that it is serious reading, a bit on the heavy side but if you are someone who really wants answers, you will get what you came for and then some. I learned in the early chapters of Jeremiah, two things: pandemics and disasters are nothing new. They’ve been around since the time of Noah all the way to the present. There are biblical pandemics and there are medical type pandemics. The book of Jeremiah also teaches us why pandemics happen and why God allows them.

If you go through history, you will see that many pandemics have come and gone and in both the “olden days” as well as recent history, such pandemics were either solved by science or simply disappeared leaving scientist / man clueless. That happened with the 1918 Pandemic, the Ebola Virus in Africa as well as SARS and few others. The jury is still out as far as who caused or created (if it was created) COVID-19. But in many cases, it’s not all man-made but often man-caused. Whether we view it from a behavioral or spiritual context, there comes a time when we “monkey around” with nature, the environment, humanity, or with God and end up reaping the whirlwind. Given all the time you have at your disposal, I invite you to read the book of Jeremiah. If you do you will be shocked at the many similarities between what people were doing back then that really really made God angry, compared with how today’s people have been living their lives. You will realize that we are no different, if not worse.

Because of the modernized presentations of religion as well as Christianity, many people might argue that pandemics and plagues are all Old Testament stuff. That the New Testament and Jesus put an end to the entire fire and brimstone model. They may have forgotten that Jesus came to fulfill the Law and that Law in fact required that He die on the cross. My short answer for such arguments is: God is God – sin is sin. Besides which, what then are we suppose to make of COVID-19 and the millions of infected individuals as well as mortalities, not to mention all our collective financial and material losses; Just our bad luck?  Someone might say God is good and will not allow sickness and disease. Not exactly, go read the book of Job. The devil needed God’s permission and God gave it because he knew the outcome.

I’m not trying to start a religious debate here, just trying to get people to ask WHY and to look into the possibility that what we are going through is a collective consequence of our collective behavior. Maybe if we all realize this, we can also collectively do what we can about it. On an individual or personal basis, now would be a good time to reflect on our lives, goals, and behavior. Every week I hear about a friend or an acquaintance who has closed branches or offices, laid off workers etc. Some of us have been unloading material possessions, and cleaning house and getting rid of their “bananas inside coconuts.” Alongside that, I know many people have also sought answers to what they need to focus on, redirect, or dedicate themselves to. I’ve been doing a lot of the clean up as well as the soul searching and have spent a lot of time listening to podcasts and preaching of respected leaders, pastors etc. One of them is the late Ravi Zacharias, a Christian apologist (someone who defends or explains the Christian faith). In one lecture he pointed out that many nations and people have “Great Faith” but don’t have “Great Knowledge” of their faith and its doctrines. In another lecture Zacharias told his audience that as an apologist or explainer of the Christian faith it is not enough to know so much, you must also be felt and be in the situation. If people can feel your love, respect and concern for them, it will be easier for them to hear your presentation.

For the longest time I have been what I term a functional Christian, meaning someone who does the work, fulfill the requirements, opens his heart to God’s leading but comparatively ignorant. Just like in my school days, I have a full library of books most of which I have never read. In my past life, my sins were the death of me. In my new life, my ignorance has been the death of my abilities. We can be born with so many gifts but gifts or talent by themselves do not flourish on passion alone. We need to study to learn. In a time when we have such easy access to knowledge and information via the internet, it would be such a great loss if we do not tap into the wisdom of so many learned men and women in order to fast track our growth and our maturity. This I believe is what our nation and society sorely lack: Wisdom and Maturity. That is why I ask “Why?”.

*      *      *

E-mail: [email protected]