Like everyone else, I am living within this new temporary reality of social distancing. Like everyone else, I am hoping for a quick resolution to the coronavirus and restoration of normal social non-distancing.
Like everyone else, I have also watched as first toilet paper and face masks and then food items were quickly bought out by those who were operating in fear of the unknown. The unknown can be frightening.
But as believers in Yeshua (Jesus), we don’t operate in the unknown. We operate within the known. We have promises made to us by the unchanging G-D who cannot lie. We should be walking in faith, not in doubt.
If the Bible contains answers for every situation, and I believe it does, then what does the Bible teach us about faith during a quarantine? Please consider the following and take this to heart as we travel the next few weeks, months or years of our coronavirus experience together.
First, I want to remind you that Psalms 37:25 (TLV) says, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous one forsaken, nor his children begging for bread.”
The psalmist wrote then, and I am reminding you today: G-D always provides for His people. Don’t fear and hoard. Believe and bless. G-D is always faithful.
As I said above, the Bible does have an answer to every situation. When it comes to quarantines, food shortages and how we should respond, the Bible actually provides direct instructions for us.
Let’s learn this lesson from a group of quarantined men in the Bible. In 2 Kings 7, we find four lepers who have been quarantined; they believe they are going to die, so they enter the camp of their enemy. They, like so many of us today, initially responded in fear to their situation. But let’s read on about what takes place.
“When these men with tza’arat came to the edge of the camp, they entered into one tent, ate and drank, and took from there silver, gold, and clothes, then went and hid them. Then they returned and went into another tent, and took from there too, and went and hid them. Then they said to each other, ‘It’s not right, what we’re doing. This day is a day of good news, and we’re keeping silent! If we wait till the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Let’s go now and report to the king’s household'” (2 Kings 7:8-9).
When these quarantined men found an abundance of food, at first they ate and drank and were going to hoard the food for themselves. But then, they said to each other, “This day is a day of good news, and we’re keeping silent!”
Once again, please take this message to heart. Today is a day of Good News. We know the Good News of Messiah Yeshua. Are we keeping silent? Or will we decide as these four quarantined men did?
We should not hoard food and other items out of fear, but rather, share our blessings with others. Will we shout out with words and actions, “This is a day of Good News,” or will we be silent? {eoa}
Eric Tokajer is author of With Me in Paradise, Transient Singularity, OY! How Did I Get Here?: Thirty-One Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before Entering Ministry, #ManWisdom: With Eric Tokajer, Jesus Is to Christianity as Pasta Is to Italians and Galatians in Context.
