Even in Pandemics, Look to Jesus

It’s fall, and the mysterious and persistent disease continues to spread rapidly throughout much of the known world. Those at greatest risk seem to be those dwelling in dense cities. The medical community offers various recommendations, but a lack of knowledge and the anxiety of uncertainty hang in the air. The body count rises by the day. The year is 1866, in London, after almost two decades of deadly cholera outbreaks around the world. In the midst of a pandemic threatening his own city once again, the Prince of Preachers Charles Spurgeon addresses his congregation.

In his sermon “The Voice of Cholera,” Spurgeon’s booming voice echoes throughout the Metropolitan Tabernacle, he hits on several points that I think are surprisingly relevant for us almost 160 years later. Let me highlight a few:

1. Expect that people, even Christians, will react in varied ways.
   • “There are different ways of looking at this disease. Men viewing it from one point of view alone, have frequently despised those who have regarded it under another aspect. Occasionally Christian men express themselves indignantly concerning those who speak of cholera as the product of ascertained and governable causes, to be checked and even prevented by due attention to the laws of health.”

   • "So far from a Christian man being angry with those who instruct the people in useful secular knowledge, he ought rather to be thankful for them, and hope that their teaching may be powerful with the masses.”
   You can receive and heed secular knowledge in order to love your neighbor
   • “The gospel has no quarrel with ventilation, and the doctrines of grace have no dispute with chloride of lime [bleach]. We preach repentance and faith, but we do not denounce whitewash; and much as we advocate holiness, we always have a good word for cleanliness and sobriety.”
   • “We would promote with all our hearts that which may honour God, but we cannot neglect that which may bless our neighbours whom we desire to love even as ourselves.”

2. Our most important charge in these times is to look not to science or politics, but to our sovereign God
   • “We believe that God sends all pestilences, let them come how they may, and that he sends them with a purpose, let them be removed in whatever way they may; and we conceive that it is our business as ministers of God, to call the people’s attention to God in the disease, and teach them the lesson which God would have them learn.”
   We have a portrait in our living room with one of my favorite Charles Spurgeon quotes written out. It is all the more helpful in a confusing time like this. It says, “God is too good to be unkind, He is too wise to be mistaken. When we cannot trace his hand, we must trust his heart.” Even though we have fallen in love with the word “unprecedented” this year, remember that this pandemic is not the first one endured by God’s people (and it likely won’t be the last). And in a time that can feel paralyzing and disorienting, the exhortation today is simply to remember what is most important: Worship Jesus, Love One Another, and Seek the Good of these Cities. And that reminds us of our need to confess our sins.

   Father, we live in a world that oftentimes feels obsessed with the science and the politics of this virus we are battling. And while there can be good gleaned from these sources, too often we have forgotten you. We have not worshipped you with our whole mind, soul, and strength. We have not loved our brothers and sisters in Christ as we would ourselves. And we have failed to consistently seek the good of the cities you’ve sent us into.

   Father, we repent of these things, and we bring our individual sins to you now in the silence of this moment.

   God, we thank you and praise you that you are a merciful King. We ask that you would turn the eyes of our souls now to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. For our sake you made him to BE sin who knew NO sin, so that IN him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus’ perfections in worship, love, service are credited to our depleted accounts, and his flawless robe is draped over our filthy shoulders. We ask that by your Spirit, you would fill us and empower us to be more like Jesus, change us so that we might change the world around us. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, Amen.