Last week I hit a wall in dealing with the coronoavirus crisis, even though our challenges are far fewer than those of many. I don’t even remember what brought me to that wall. But I opened my daily devotional book by Eugenia Price at random, asking God to give me “something.” This is what I read:

For I know that my redeemer lives (Job 19:25a).
Nothing that could happen to us could be worse than what happened to Job. And in the midst of his ghastly pain and sorrow and perplexity, he still cried: ‘I know that my redeemer lives…’

Wow! That verse put some perspective on our present situation. In most cases even in our present crisis, our personal losses are negligible compared to Job’s. We also have the comfort of knowing others all over the world are suffering in the same way—Job suffered alone. We know our suffering stems from a world-wide pandemic. Job had no idea why he was suffering.

The author of this devotional goes on to say,

One word in this verse holds the key to God’s answer to all of human suffering… the word is redeemer. God is still a redeemer… A redemptive power was let loose in the world when Jesus cried, ‘It is finished.’ More and more I see that the redemptive power is operative in our circumstances as well as our sin.

Do we really believe Jesus can redeem our present circumstances—bring something good from them? Eugenia Price says, “Nothing is ever wasted in the presence of Jesus Christ. Not even your great weeping. Not even your physical pain. If you give it to Him, He will redeem it and make truly creative use of it.

From the beginning of this crisis, the promise I’ve clung to is that what Satan means for evil, God will use for good (Genesis 50:20).This isn’t some pipedream in the sky. The Bible is filled with examples of God using painful circumstances for good. Here are just a few of them:

• Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery but God raised him up in Egypt to provide for not only his brothers but the world during a worldwide famine.

• Pharaoh intended to kill all the Israelite babies but God put Moses into Pharaoh’s household to be raised by his daughter and eventually to be God’s instrument to set the captives free.

• A great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem (Acts 8) scattering all except the apostles to other places, but God used it to spread the Gospel. (Those who had been scattered preached the Word wherever they went.)

Would you join me in believing God can bring good from this pandemic not only for you personally but also for our Country and the world? Would you  ask God how you can be an instrument to help bring about the good He has in store?

We must be convinced that Jesus Christ is a redeemer of our every circumstance as well as our sin.
Eugenia Price