By Dan Brothers
How things change in just a short time. I left the U.S. on February 11th for 5 weeks of teams and ministry and returned home to the Coronavirus mayhem! Along the way, we witnessed God moving and working in our communities and our churches, and I’ll share those exciting updates with you in another email soon. In the meantime, I wanted to share my thoughts on where we are as believers in Jesus Christ.
In this crazy world of Covid-19, everything is moving at such a rapid pace, but as we self-distance or quarantine things seem so slow. On March 15th I attended the 2nd anniversary for our church in Masaya, Nicaragua; and a week later on March 22nd, I filled in and lead worship in an empty room at my home church as we practiced social distancing like most assemblies of faith are doing right now. It was both a blessing and a strange sort of emotion.
As I sang “It is Well”, by the last verse I could not complete the chorus as I was overcome by God’s faithfulness to us and His call to rest solely in Him, trust in His grace, rest in His mercies, and cling to His all sufficiency. It truly was well with my soul, if only for that few moments.
Now Easter has passed and for the first time for most of us, we did not attend a Good Friday or a Resurrection Sunday Service. I believe the Church of Jesus Christ is in exile. During the Covid-19 lockdown, we cannot do the things that we call “church.” But in the personal one-on-one relationship between us and Jesus, I believe that He is crying, “when will “I” be enough for you?” God is calling his church home—calling us as believers to gather quietly with Him, take in His word, reflect on His character, rest in His mercies, and walk in His grace.
He longs for us to find contentment in Him. He orchestrates our steps to lead us to just such a place. Perhaps He is leading His church to lay aside all that we think church must be and rest in Him, rediscover the God of Grace, Hope, the Salvation.
While doing some research, I came across a devotion on Psalm 131. There are only three verses but if we could learn to live by them, we would be well-served:
“LORD, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I don’t concern myself with matters too great
or too awesome for me to grasp.
Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself,
like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk.
Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, put your hope in the LORD—
now and always.”
Oh, to be content in the presence of the Lord, not for what we want Him to do for us, but resting in His presence, only having a desire for His presence. Oh Church, put your trust in the Lord, now and always. Thanks to the Lord for His faithfulness and thank you for allowing God to use you and your family during this time to provide for Kingdom activity, both at home and in Nicaragua!