Our Fragile World
When my wife fell ill in 2000, I received a call from a family friend, who wanted to offer his support to the family. But his first question was, ‘I thought, you are a Christian’, and ‘you go to church’, how come your wife has contracted such a terrible disease. I was asking the same questions as my own faith was at the lowest, with four little children, my wife being terminal ill, and I was asking God, ‘why me’?
Our fragility should point us to the enduring nature of the Kingdom of God and give us a heart of gratitude that overflows with rejoicing knowing that in Christ we are now members of God’s family (Spencer, 2020).
We live in a broken fragile world. When plagues struck ancient Egypt, the faithful were not spared. But the mighty God gave them instructions as to how they can survive the wrath of God. As the world grapple with might of Coronavirus, not only we are crippled by the disease, the lockdown around the nations have sent millions into poverty, scarcity of food, insecurity, job loss and lack of support by the perspective governments. Our trials are not trivial, they genuinely send us into fear mode, whereby we tend to begin questioning. Asking God questions is a good sign of your faith, it tells me that we are talking to our Father in Heaven, why am I in this situation. Don’t just ask questions, but ask for the resolution too. As Psalmist says in Psalms 18:6:
“In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears”.
May we find joy of the Lord in midst of our trials. I can assure you, while my own faith was at the lowest in 2000, but God came to our rescue, and my wife and my family live on to tell our story. Jehovah Rapha will provide the cure and healing – let us all plead with the Holy Spirit to take control.
Elder Ramesh
Oxford Seventh Day Adventist Church