GETTING BACK TO NORMAL Part 2

BARBARA E. PERKINS

GETTING BACK TO NORMAL
Part 2
What is normal?  Some people are asking where is God during this coronavirus pandemic?  They are probably anxious to get back to normal.  GOD’S WORD ANSWERS that previous question, “…I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).  Numbers 23:19 declares, “GOD IS NOT A MAN, THAT HE SHOULD LIE, nor a son of man, that He should repent.  Has He said, and will He not do?  Or HAS HE SPOKEN, and WILL HE NOT MAKE IT GOOD?”  God is right where He has always been, WAITING ON US.  Since God didn’t leave us, then we must have left Him long before our nation found itself in the midst of the worse disaster in history—this coronavirus pandemic.  We were possibly too caught up in our normal to realize we had rushed past the LORD, maybe months or years ago, and forgot to wait on Him.  Isaiah, the prophet, said it this way in Isaiah 40:31, “But those who WAIT ON THE LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  The Psalmist David said (Psalms 37:7), “Rest in the LORD, and WAIT patiently for Him…”  Now that the LORD has our attention, we need to pray and seek His face—His way of doing things and living.  Our normal is lacking so much.  Genesis 1:26 said, we were created in God’s image and likeness.  We were not created in God’s image and likeness to develop the kind of unjust society that we are living in right now.  Proverbs 3:27 shows the compassionate nature of God and what He expects of us.  “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so.”  1 John 4:7, 11 says, “God is love” and “…If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”  Jesus Christ’s sacrifice is a testimony of God’s love for us (John 3:16).  God’s nature is love and that should be our nature as well.  Do we have the God kind of love—agape love?  Do we have unselfish love for each other?  Is this love part of our normal?  I believe the LORD is waiting on us to repent and pray, right now, before it is too late.  LORD, have mercy on the poor, needy, the widows, the fatherless and the blue-collar workers in this nation whose needs are rarely met or even considered.  God’s word in Psalms 140:12 helps us to understand His concerns, “I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor.”  LORD GOD, please forgive us and have mercy on this nation.  I pray that You will give us (this nation) the desire to pursue justice for all of its people.  Heavenly Father, save us (this nation) from ourselves and our poor choices, before we implode.  We need You, LORD!  Please have mercy on us and help us to strive to be better than our past normal.  In Jesus Christ’s Powerful Name! Amen!

Would you like to be saved and develop a relationship with God as your Heavenly Father?  If you would really like to know God, invite His Son, Jesus Christ, into your heart.  Please pray this prayer:  Dear God, please forgive me of my sins.  I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is Your Son.  I believe that He died on the cross, shed His blood, and rose from the grave for my salvation.  I confess Jesus right now as my Savior and Lord.  God fill me with your Holy Spirit so that I can live a life that pleases You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!  If you prayed this prayer and really meant it, based on Roman 10:9-10, you are saved.  Welcome into God’s Family!