This week I heard of a catchy sign in a public restroom that said, “Keep calm and wash your hands.” I laughed since there was obvious humor in our current situation with the corona virus. But I also noted, this is the best the world has to offer. It is not bad advice. We have all heard the refrain of being “calm” and “washing your hands.” We do it and should continue to. But there is something missing here that only the Christian has…it is real faith in God while in crisis.
The greatest comfort lies in not just being calm, cool, collected, and washing your hands. These are essential. But the greatest consolation is in simply trusting God amid trouble. Be calm, wash up but go to the higher step of trusting in God alone who can bring deep comfort to the soul.
The virus situation we are in is minor compared to things many believers went through in history. The great cholera epidemic was pandemic from 1846 to 1860. It hit London, England in 1854. It was caused by sewage pollution of drinking water, although not yet known. In just one year in London it killed 10,000 people out of population of about 2.7 million (roughly the greater Seattle area).
Pastor Charles Spurgeon found himself in the middle of this crisis in the early years of ministry. Note his words. “If there ever be a time when the mind is sensitive, it is when death is abroad. I recollect, when first I came to London, how anxiously people listened to the gospel, for the cholera was raging terribly. There was little scoffing then.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon 1834-1892 London, England baptist pastor.
He goes on, “In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London twelve months, the neighborhood in which I labored was visited by Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. Family after family summoned me to the bedside of the smitten, and almost every day I was called to visit the grave.”
“All day, and sometimes all night long, I went about from house to house, and saw men and women dying, and, oh, how glad they were to see my face! When many were afraid to enter their houses lest they should catch the deadly disease, we who had no fear about such things found ourselves most gladly listened to when we spoke of Christ and of things Divine.”
Not always, but often hearts are softened to the hand of God in such situations. We should be sensitive to the soul of those we talk to and seek to give them the “balm of Gilead;” three times in the Old Testament something like this is mentioned. Today we use the phrase to refer to the Gospel. Yes, “Jesus” is the balm of Gilead that people ultimately need regardless of the outcome. Note what Spurgeon says here.
“I went home, and was soon called away again; that time, to see a young woman. She also was in the last extremity, but it was a fair, fair sight. She was singing, — though she knew she was dying, — and talking to those round about her, telling her brothers and sisters to follow her to Heaven, bidding goodbye to her father, and all the while smiling as if it had been her marriage day. She was happy and blessed.” Now imagine your death being like a wedding day. I love it.
Spurgeon didn’t have antibiotics or other remedies to give comfort,…only the balm of simple trust in Christ. He did well in turning many souls to realize their greatest need was for salvation from their sin. Passages such as Romans 3:23 and 6:23 make it clear every one is guilty of sin, great or small and on our way to eternal hell. We are unfit for heaven. It is not by human merit or doing good works that we may be forgiven (Eph. 2:8-9), but only through faith alone in Christ.
In a way sickness can be a blessing if it causes us to come to grips with our mortality. When we do, we often see how desperate we are spiritually and physically. The Lord can use that to call us unto Himself. How about you? Panicked by the virus? Trust Christ for your forgiveness (salvation) first and trust Him in your healing if He should so desire. Live or die, the believer is safe in Christ’s arms who died for our wrongs and offers us His forgiveness and perfect righteousness in Christ.
Whatever you do, “Keep calm, wash your hands, and trust in Christ through it all.”
P.S. Who was Spurgeon? He was the most popular preacher of the time and is still know as the “Prince of Preachers.” He is probably the most quoted preach of the period and today also. He was a Baptist and often preached to over 10,000 (without any modern sound system) and impacted millions for Christ around the world. Today he is still claimed and quoted by many far beyond his baptist roots.
See you next Sunday,
Pastor Mark
Last Sunday we had tech issues affecting Livestream. They are resolved so now you can watch my message on the Feeding of the 4,000 any time you like. I’ll continue the Mark series next month.
If you are staying home for health reasons know that the Livestream is a safe way to worship with us at the time of the event or later after it is posted on the website. Just go to www.discoverybaptist.org and scroll down to the Livestream button at the bottom of the list on the right. Click and select the service you want to watch. We have years worth.
Next Sunday 3/15 Enriko Stigter will be speaking. Starting 3/22 Chris Rogers will be starting a short series on evangelism.
Pastor Chris Rogers will be starting a new series on 3/22.
Join us for an all-church prayer meeting this Sun, 6pm. Special focus on outreach at this time as we prepare for Easter. Sunday’s SALT groups cancelled. I, Pastor Mark, will be speaking on Palm Sunday and Easter.