“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Deuteronomy 29:29
Why is this all happening? No doubt, many of you have probably pondered this question during these last several weeks. COVID-19 has blown across the globe in short order. Restaurants, hotels, schools, and many other institutions have either shut down or severely pulled back their operation in order to combat and slow the spread of this virus. The church has been deeply affected by these events as well. We suffer during this time because we are hindered from coming to the Lord to worship and partake of the means of grace. The economy is suffering. People are suffering. The saints are suffering. We all want to know why this is happening. We all want to know when this will end.
The doctrine of divine providence will be of help to us as we think through these things. Louis Berkhof defined God’s providence is this way: “Providence [is] that continued exercise of the divine energy whereby the Creator preserves all His creatures, is operative in all that comes to pass in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end.” I want to purpose that we can know something of God’s providence during these days and that there are things we cannot know. As stated in Deuteronomy 29:29, God reveals things to us, and He has His secrets. What can we know of God and what He is doing in this time: God is good in His essence, and He preserves life (Psalm 33:6). The Lord loves His church and He has eternal purposes in all that He sends our way (Ephesians 1:11). God is not surprised by COVID-19 or anything else; rather, God exercises control over all things (Psalm 135:6). Nothing is accidental or purposeless (Proverbs 16:33). I could go on, but I fear this blog could not contain all the evidence that the Lord exercises providence over all our lives. What peace it is to know that the God who controls is the God who loves and cares. But, there are things we cannot know during this time. We do not have all the answers as to why God is allowing this to happen. We cannot say that it is the punishment for some particular sin; God has not revealed that. Certainly, God uses plague and pestilence to reveal mankind’s rebellion and self-rule, and to point to the final judgment coming when Christ comes to finalize His kingdom (2 Chronicles 32:25–26, 31; 2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
Here’s the deal, though we cannot know every answer, we must keep in mind two things. First, we know who God is. This should be a great comfort and hope for the people of God. We know Him because He has revealed Himself to His church. We need not know every answer to our current predicaments because we can trust God’s good purposes and His loving providence. Second, we must not suppose to think that if God told us we would simply be okay with it. This is a little harder to swallow. One of Job’s mistakes was not simply asking God to tell him why he suffered so, but that he thought if God told him he would understand and accept God’s reasons. God’s will and providence are just immutable incomprehensible as His being is. We simply have no other choice but to freely, lovingly, and completely submit ourselves in trust to the God who gives us the information we need to know and keeps from us what we do not. Trust the Lord; His loving providence is infinitely better than we could even imagine.