The Lord is my light and my salvation, so why should I be afraid? Psalm 27:1
As I was taking a walk this morning, I encountered deer at several points along my way. Deer are always interesting to watch. Often as I walk by, they will stop eating and watch me until I have safely passed by and then they go right back to eating. They all stand firm together. But, today as I encountered a group of about six, at first they froze, then as I got closer, one of them panicked and ran. That’s all it took; just the one. The other five followed suit and they all tore off into the woods.
That really got me to thinking about all of the Ebola scare stories going around. Facebook has a ton of them. There was even one yesterday claiming that a family of five somewhere in small town Texas had all come down with it and the entire town had been quarantined. The United States government had initiated martial law. If it were true, it would be terribly troubling. The thing is, it’s not. There’s not a shred of truth to the story.
Ebola is a scary disease. However, it’s not new. It was first discovered in the early 1970’s. So far, only one person in the United States has died from it and the 48 people who were exposed to that man, have not had any symptoms of developing the disease and are set to be released from quarantine this weekend.
We tend to think that whatever threat we are facing, is the worst threat ever to mankind. Every generation thinks that. The times we are living in are quite dark, but I can’t find any place in the Bible where it says we should panic. We are never instructed to live in fear and cower behind locked doors. We are to stand fast and keep our eyes on God, remembering that ultimately, He is in control.
Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation- so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?” Those are wise words from King David.
One of the missionaries who contracted Ebola said, ” I thought whether I live or die, it’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.” (Nancy Writebol) Those are words of faith we should all strive for. When our hearts belong to Jesus, we aren’t afraid of death. We don’t have to be afraid of anything.
Interestingly, all of those missionaries who got sick, plan on returning to Africa. They have been called. They are honoring the God who called them. They have chosen not to live in fear.
The sad truth is there are over 4,000 people who have died in Africa, due mainly to lack of medical facilities and poverty. There have been only eight cases here so far. Three have completely recovered. Two are expected to recover. Two have just been diagnosed, but are in isolation and stable. Only one man has died. While his death is tragic, I don’t think it warrants the panic that is being pushed by the media.
Quite frankly, I know of one entity who thrives on chaos, deception and fear. I’ll bet you do too. Let’s not give into him. Please join me in focusing on God during this crises. Please join me in praying for the safety and recovery of all people in contact with this virus. Please join me in a special prayer for those people in West Africa. If we think we are frightened here with the best medical care in the world at our disposal, think about how terrified they must be.
God created all people. Jesus loves all people. Let’s pray that all people will be saved from this virus soon. And let’s all try to remember where panic and chaos comes from.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂