“Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.”
– Psalm 33:22

In the Bible, the word hope means to have confident assurance of something. We often put our hope in familiar and visible structures of society, government, and authorities. We put hope in our own plans, skills, and abilities. We put hope in the notion that tomorrow will be pretty much like today. Then comes something like the coronavirus that reminds us that these are not things upon which we can have confident assurance. Strength and skill will eventually fail us. Structures and leaders will eventually fail us. Sometimes tomorrow is not like today.

Only God, who is sovereign over all things, will never fail. He is our refuge and strength. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-good. He operates from an eternal perspective we can’t even comprehend and He works all things together for the good of His creation and those who love Him. It is in God alone through faith in Christ that we should place our hope, for He alone is steady through the storms and chaos, the fear and sickness. Let us place our hope firmly in God and nowhere else.

Then may God’s steadfast love – which never changes, never flickers, and never fluctuates – rest upon us. His love is not transactional or contingent, it is not self-serving or manipulative. God’s steadfast love is pure and holy, ever present and freely available to all who call on His name in Christ. In this challenging time, know that God’s love is always upon you, and we pray that you may have an especially clear sense and experience of His steadfast love throughout the days ahead!

“It seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” – Luke 1:3-4

What a treasure we have in Scripture! Luke introduces his gospel account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus by discussing his historical methods (interviews with eyewitnesses and consulting primary sources) and purpose in writing. He meticulously gathered the data and talked to those who were present so that all who love God (that’s what “Theophilus” literally means) could have an organized account of Jesus and complete confidence in what we read.

As followers of Jesus Christ we can have extraordinary confidence in the Bible! What we read about Jesus truly happened and these writings make it very clear: He was prophet, preacher, teacher, miracle worker, anointed messiah, Son of God, and God in the flesh. By his sin-free life, sacrificial death, and well-verified physical resurrection from the dead that our sins are forgiven, we gain eternal life, and we enjoy ongoing union with Christ once we believe in Him.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to live in freedom.” – Leviticus 26:13

God is still in the business of freeing people! What He did for the Israelites He wants to do for you and those you care about. Too many of us live enslaved to the fears, addictions, delights, concerns, and stuff of this world. We might hate what enslaves us or we might love it, but we remain chained to it – afraid, defensive, and feeling stuck. When offered a better and freer future, we struggle to imagine what it looks like or how to get there. That’s where God comes in!

God gave His Son Jesus to set men and women, boys and girls free. Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again so that all who put their faith in Him could live in true freedom. He frees us from death – though we will die, followers of Jesus will live on forever in the presence of God. He frees us from the penalty for our sins – by His sacrifice on the cross, we are reconciled to God. He frees us from loneliness and fear, because Christ lives within us forevermore – we are never alone and we need not fear. He empowers us to be free of the powerful appetites of our bodies and minds, that we might live truly free in God. He frees us from the labels this world sticks on us and that we stick upon ourselves and makes us children of God. He frees us from the crippling demands of transactional love and expectation-driven relationships, allowing us to live by the unearned gift of grace. He frees us from the relentless obsession with ourselves that ultimately drives us to the darkest and unhealthiest places imaginable, allowing us to instead grow in the One we were actually made to worship and love.

The reality is that we’re often so trapped by what enslaves us that we can’t even imagine how glorious true freedom is. In fact, we often think that the freedom offered by God is a burden, while the burden that crushes us daily is freedom. However God offers true, lasting, forever freedom through faith in Christ. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

“I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.“
– Psalm 32:5

We all have things in our lives that we shouldn’t have thought, said, or done. We have moments (or perhaps years) of selfishness, cruelty, greed, jealousy, or self-indulgence that go too far. We have rebelled against God’s good design and plan for our lives and maybe we cared about that and maybe we didn’t. There have also been times when we’ve stood by and let things happen that we should’ve said or done something to stop, but didn’t.

All these things are sin, and we’ve all sinned. Sin separates us from God who never sins. Sometimes we like to pretend sin doesn’t exist, explaining away our sins, numbing our conscience, and trying to move on. But it doesn’t really work. It doesn’t change the fact that we’ve sinned and separated ourselves from God, leaving a great gaping hole in our hearts. Other times, we know very well that we’ve sinned and we feel trapped by it. We believe that something in our past or present is so awful that we can’t ever move past our sin. We feel hopeless and condemned, defined by our sin and without a future.

The good news is that there is always a way out of sin! There is a way to be restored in relationship to God, to enjoy His love and blessing, and to experience His ongoing presence in our lives. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, who died to pay the penalty for your sins and reconcile you to your Creator, then all you must do is recognize, turn away from, and confess your sins. Know that God will, with 100% certainty, forgive everything, embracing you as His beloved child.

“Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
when I was in a besieged city.”
– Psalm 31:21

As you listen to the relentless drumbeat of bad news related to coronavirus you might begin to feel like you’re under siege. This may be particularly true if you begin to feel anxious or unsafe going out and must withdraw from social and religious activities you cherish. If that siege mentality begins to set in, don’t give in to despair. Instead, actively look for God’s steadfast love in the midst of everything!

Use this time to lean into God in increased daily prayer, personal Bible study, and meditation on Scripture. Begin or expand personal or family worship at home: take advantage of the abundant resources to stream worship music and sing along, pray together, read Scripture aloud, and discuss its meaning and application. Make a point in your personal quiet time and in family time to identify ways God has revealed His love to you in both the past and the present day.

As we cultivate the habit of looking for God’s activity and love it gets easier and easier to see Him at work in both the big things and the tiny details. If you come to feel stressed and under siege, use your time well to see and experience the God who is with you every moment during your siege, loving and supporting you throughout.