Q. I understand what you say about God being all-powerful and sovereign, even in disasters like this. But why am I not reassured?
As we learn how to react to situations like this plague and this panic, we do need to do more than simply assert that God is all-powerful. This might leave some with the impression that all we need to have is some musclebound God, never mind that He is malevolent. But I am not trying to encourage you to have faith in Zeus, or in Allah.
If we want to come to God in faith, Scripture teaches us that there are two convictions we must have about Him.
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Heb. 11:6 (KJV)
He who comes to God must believe that He is, in the first instance, and in the second, that He receives and rewards those who seek Him diligently.
The shorthand way of saying this is that, first, God is there, and second, God is good.
If you don’t believe He is there, you won’t come, and if you don’t believe He is good, you won’t come.
So you are in big trouble, and you need to come to God. But you need to believe that He is there, and you need to believe that He is good. He is there, because, how could He not be? He is God. And He is good, by definition. Charging Him with evil is incoherent—after you arrest Him, what court are you going to try Him in? Whose laws did He violate? Yours? And so who made you the sheriff of misbehaving deities?
So He exists, and He is infinitely, everlastingly, entirely, ultimately, and completely good. Start with that.
And so then, building on that foundation, come to Him. Have you been exposed to the virus? He is there, and He is good. Have you been laid off? He is there and He is good. Do you have loved ones who are sick? He is there and He is good.