08.07.20 The Best and Worst of Times

Yesterday yet another friend sent me this message:  even though the current pandemic has caused pain and struggle for many, “this pandemic has been wonderful for us as a family unit.” Mixed messages? Maybe not. Maybe optimism. Sadly, we’ve seen numbers for thousands of tragic deaths due to COVID that have spread in a viral manner. We’ve known friends and neighbors who’ve suffered huge business and livelihood losses. We’ve watched numbers rising daily on the news. We’ve experienced greatly changed lifestyles due to restrictions. With gyms closed, though, more people have been taking walks, so everyone’s getting more exercise. More people have invested time playing family games and going on family bike rides. Kids have visited grandparents outside nursing home windows. People have been cooking more at home and eating dinner at the family table. Zoom calls have reconnected old friends. People have been more isolated, but people have also been more connected, spending more real time with each other. It is mixed, indeed. How bad are the times? But how good are the times? 
The opening lines “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times” penned by Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities could be written about our time right now. While these contrasting thoughts present the conflict between prosperity and suffering in the book, they sort of describe how many of us feel today. When I think about the impossible situation our world seems to be facing, I am comforted in this: nothing has touched our lives that has escaped His eyes. God knows! I do know that He will work things for good. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.”(NLT) The darkness of this present cloud can also present blessings. Genesis 50:20 shows the result of a situation that turned out differently than intended.“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”(NKJ) Yes, God can surely bring light into this and into any dark situation. Isaiah 45:7 says “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.”(NKJ) And, what joy to know that He gives me hope for the future. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”(NKJ) How reassuring, to know that God has an answer, a hope for us in this mess we face. He reminds me not to lose heart, for it is He that overcomes the world. So, I already know that it will be made right. Actually, He encourages me, in these times, to be lighter in heart. John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”(NKJ) Yes, I feel frustrated, and maybe at times a bit frightened. But I can examine this negative and realize it can also be a positive. And, I can rest in the fact that God has told us that He will overcome. How comforting! It may certainly feel like the worst of times, but, as Dickens said, it could also possibly be the best of times! I trust my God to take the bad and use it for good!          --Linda Dunlap

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