There is much debate across social media concerning the Pandemic, 2020, and what this means. I get often asked if this is a judgment…and in this post I am moved to address some concepts we need to get clear. Unfortunately we are not so Biblically literate as we should be.

The judgments of God always come in the context when the Covenant People are in the earth.

Judgments come when we are outside of the covenant domain! The covenant is a bridge which God brings us into relationship with Him. The covenants provide conditions for us to relate to God, and receive His Blessings. Once we reject these, we live under the circumstances which are governed by a fallen domain. So for those who live for the covenant must be distinct from those who do not. Just like a Prince who lives in the Palace with His father, the King, lives in a different level of privilege than the common man, and lives with the privileges of riches and prestige. So it is with God’s covenant subjects, those who believe in Him.

The Pandemic and lockdown has been a full stop on all normal activity, confined to home, and subject to the same conditions as every one else.

The Lord has brought our lives to a full stop. That full stop has limited to zero our capacity to make money, doing something creative, practical to earn the finance to pay bills. This is a judgement , yet in it God is working His purposes in it.

All of the economic activity, leisure venues, shops, shopping centres are closed. Banks are closed, and all essential services are closed. God has worked in this, for some it is disaster, but for others it is the most fruitful because it has brought a new alignment in what are priorities.

So what does the title mean? It only means something to those who learn to live it, in the context of love for God, and a calling! For those who lived for the material it is loss, for those who consider spiritual things it is gain, because we recognise that it is a necessary STOP to reevaluate.

Many of us were so busy with itineraries, with commitments, with travel, that now we are confined to our homes! We have a choice, PERCEIVE what God is wanting of us…how much time do we spend in His Word and Prayer, how much do we spend being a instrument of encouragement.

For those who know about the Covenant, yet live outside it, will see the pandemic, as loss, destruction, death, ONLY! And it is those things. Yet He who is the Creator, cannot intervene in the lives of those who reject Him. Those who are determined to live their lives their own way. However this Pandemic started has hit a society that is far away from God, has brought death and destruction to businesses everywhere…does God take pleasure in this? No. He weeps over this, because it is unnecessary…He has already provided a way for us to live better, through His Word if we would heed this message in this very difficult time.

When I consider the losses the Apostle Paul suffered and yet can write this Scripture, says that all things work…and work together… means that he has a understanding that comes from a personal interaction with Jesus who has the solutions.

All things work…

There are natural laws…we know about them…there are also spiritual laws, which work in the context of relationship and covenant with God! Examine today your life…what is working? Are the circumstances of your life WORKING FOR YOU, OR AGAINST YOU? How do you change that? You must examine your faith…is it the same as that which upholds the universe in place? Faith in God provides the upholding and working FOR you. Jonah saw his circumstances work against him because he knew what God was asking of him, yet he went the opposite direction.

The first thing we notice when we disobey God we notice the “winds” of life come against us. Now there are other storms as well, particularly in the life of Jesus, the storm on the Sea of Galilee was trying to stop them reaching their destination, Jesus rebuked and calmed the storm. This means we need to discern our “storms”. In every circumstance I have suffered, referring to my episode this year with SEPSIS I saw this scripture in a new light, yet I hovered between life and death. Yet, my processing meant that I knew first that God was good and had a REASON to take me THROUGH it. He would reveal His reasons and Purposes. That way in it I would be strengthened and healed. Now I know and it has put me on a different level of faith.

together…

The purposes of God are many, all things work TOGETHER, therefore there are many layers and dimensions which God is working. I know if the Church grasps this moment, what will happen is that believers and Church communities will grasp what God is speaking, and will come into a new purity of faith and there will be a harvest of souls, and what would be an obstacle for people to come to Christ will be taken out. What did God do, or allow? He allowed a pandemic to get our attention! He allowed it to arrange our priorities. He arranged it to value life itself…our community…our nation.

The fruit of the quarantine may not be apparent but in eternity is gaining for us a weight of honour and esteem

The Lord is bringing us into an “eternity” consciousness…and as He leads us in His Word we will begin to understand His ways.

For good…

I am in no way devaluing lives lost, nor businesses lost…I am saying they are places of redefining. We have to redefine our concept of good. For GOOD in God’s definition is that a little earthly affliction we go through will stand us in good stead in our heavenly estate. This means the GOOD God is working in us, and through us, will cause us to live an eternity with greater reward and great purpose. We picture heaven, or the new earth as sitting on clouds, or in mansions having nothing to do, which is the furthest from the truth. Adam, the first man, tendered the Garden of Eden, for God. What will we do? This is dependent on the obedience we exercise here…and as we allow God to redefine in us the concept of GOOD we will see it begin to overflow in this life to the next.

The Church has been brought to a stop as God is wanting us to be comprehending the “eternal life” we have been called to, where money, pleasures in material things have no place. We must get ready, because the coming of Jesus for the Church, to the earth, signifies the end of time and the beginning of eternity.

Judgments in this life bring redemption, judgment in the next bring destruction.

This small pause in all things is realigning us for eternity. In a sense the government’s are providing strategies to prolong life, whilst God is securing ETERNITY! That is what matters more!

So once we can comprehend that ALL things, good and bad, are working together for our ETERNAL good, we will come into the fullness of His purpose and we walk in the fulness of relationship with Him.

Shalom!