When do we praise God? (Part I)
(This article is specifically written for Christians. This pandemic brought about by COVID-19 is causing a lot of stress and poses grave danger to the mental health of many. The goal of this series of articles is to provide encouragement to everyone who reads this.)
Part I: WHERE WE ARE
This pandemic cause by COVID-19 has caused worldwide pain, suffering, and fear on a massive scale never experienced in the last several decades, maybe even the last century.
In what felt and appeared to have happened in a snap, jobs are lost. Businesses are lost or failing. Lives are lost. A huge part of our confidence is lost too or at least shaken by vulnerability and uncertainty.
Medical professionals are fighting the virus and its horror to save, even protect as many lives a humanly possible. They have been making great sacrifices to fight this war. The sad truth is that many of them have fallen victim to the same threat they are trying to protect or free their patients from. We have lost many of them too like heroes in a terribly great war.
Virologists and experts in the field of vaccine creation are in the race against time to save lives and ultimately - save our way of life. If an effective cure or vaccine isn’t found within the next few months, then who knows what’s going to happen in the next few months after. Governments may decide to allow people out to give some leash on the struggling economy or if not, people may start defying authorities so that they too may have a chance to live. A great majority of us do not have enough stock of food or money to survive for months or maybe even years without some source of income. And when people lose their power to purchase goods the demand drops. Manufacturers will then reduce their production and more jobs will be lost until it is no longer sustainable to continue operation. The scariest part is that in an effort to extend our lives for a few more days or weeks countries will fall into anarchy as governments collapse. That will be the beginning of the end. This is something I’ve seen time and again – in Plague Inc. (Plague Inc. is a mobile game my two kids often played.) And yes, it’s horrifying.
I may have painted a grim picture of what may come if a vaccine or an effective cure is not discovered soon.
An alternative scenario, one that is less frightening, is that there will emerge pockets or silos of territories that are COVID-free. Then each territory will have to have the resources it needs to survive on its own. It may be a town, a village, a province or a prefect, or a country depending on what a territory was able to control. Then the world will be separated physically from each other. One may no longer be able to enjoy the shores of Boracay in the Philippines or the Caribbean. Theme parks will look like ghost towns or museums. Slowly, as digital devices become old and unusable while it becomes increasingly difficult to secure new ones – the internet will just have to stop. Why? Because parts coming from South East Asia or China are unable to reach the makers in Europe, America, or South Korea. Without devices to consume what the internet has to offer (not to mention the hardware and financial infrastructure to pay for consumption), the internet will inevitably come to a stop.
Kind of depressing, right?
The second scenario to me isn’t really that depressing. Maybe uncomfortable yes, but not utterly depressing. Why? Because it will just plunge as back to the dark ages! No electricity. No internet. No selfies. No FB. No ML. No YouTube. No TikTok. No FaceApp.
No electricity. No internet. No selfies. No FB. No ML. No YouTube. No TikTok. No FaceApp.
To me, it sounds exciting! (My apologies, really.)
Bottom line is, this pandemic has forced us to open our eyes to look at and put value on what really matters. There are 2 obvious and typical responses: 1. Curse God (or any god) and blame Him (or them) for what is happening and recede to anger and depression or 2. Determine what really matters and be contented with what you have at the moment.
(Note: If you’re an agnostic or an atheist, you may disregard the first part of number 1 above. I apologize because this article is directed to people who believe in (a) God. But please feel free to read on even if you don’t.)
In the midst of all the chaos and the hurt engulfing every area and aspect of our lives can we really praise God? How?
Here’s what I have been seeing:
· 3 months of quarantine - you never missed a meal and none of your family members got sick. Praise God!
· If you’re struggling with your job, you should praise God. Many have lost their jobs.
· You got infected by COVID and recovered – praise God!
· You should praise God IF and when you wake up in the morning!
Shouldn’t we praise God in all these circumstances? Absolutely YES!
But these words are dangerous. Not because of what is said but because of what ISN’T SAID.
Imagine you’re walking up to work or simply to buy groceries and you bumped into a friend. You asked him, “how are you and your family doing during the quarantine?” Your friend responded, “everybody’s fine, thanks. I still have a job. We are able to have regular meals so all is well.” “Praise God for that!” you blurted out in excitement.
Someone who overheard your conversation cried out, “I have been jobless for 3 months now and I don’t know where I can get the money to feed my family! How then can I praise God?”
You left tongue-tied, in a hurry, and pretended you did not hear anything.
Later, on your way back home you bumped into another friend who told you her wife just got out of the hospital after weeks of confinement due to COVID. In celebration you yelled, “praise God for her recovery!”
Again, for some strange reason somebody overheard your conversation and yelled out, “I lost my father today due to COVID, I never even got to say goodbye. Should I praise God?!”
You knew it would be insensitive to say, “at least you’re still alive” so you just left - curiously in remorse about what you just told your friend.
So, when do we praise God?
I think it’s the wrong question.
Let’s talk about that on Part II.