In the days of the Israelites’ captivity in Egypt, God prepared and sent a man, Moses, to lead his people back to Canaan. For about 400 years, God’s people had known no real freedom, yet many had become accustomed to life under the Pharaohs.
But the Egyptians would not allow the Hebrew people to quietly return to the land of Promise. With Moses as His spokesman, God implored Pharaoh to ‘let my people go’. We know that Pharaoh did not.
So God sent a plague — ten of them, to be exact. Each one was designed to change the mind of the Egyptian ruler, and after the bloody tenth, Moses led his people out. We know the rest of the story; the Red Sea was parted, God’s people escaped, and after some rebellious behavior, wandered in the wilderness for forty years. During this time, many and sundry instructions were given by which the Israelites were to live, rules which included the Ten Commandments.
Finally, under Joshua, the Promised Land was conquered, and the Hebrews occupied what had been theirs for generations. But — it took a plague to get them started to where God wanted them to be.
What would a plague look like today, if God were to send one to America? We do not live in a land of bondage, but we do live in a land where God’s teaching has not been followed by our people for generations. We Americans, as a whole, are arrogant seekers after wealth and pleasure. We Americans feel that we are superior to other peoples. We Americans are getting further and further away from the God who was honored by our Founding Fathers.
If we believe in the absolute sovereignty of God today, it is not out of the realm of possibility that He would send a plague to bring us back into line. Could the COVID-19 virus be such a plague? A sickness that can spread rapidly, cause critical illness and death would be a wakeup call for Americans. What would such a God-given plague teach us?
Work is a God-given and God blessed activity for man. Adam and Eve ‘tended’ the Garden of Eden, and when sin caused them to be driven out, it was decreed that ‘in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread’. But millions had their jobs suddenly taken from them, and for many poverty descended on them after the virus hit our shores. Now many who had jobs and lost them realize the importance and value of work.
Another lesson to be learned is to select leaders who respect citizens and do not oppress them. During this virus crisis, Americans wanted another set of leaders and what we have seen is a group of people who propose laws and regulations which harm rather than help. Witness the job destruction of some of our President *’s executive orders. Listen to the lies being told about some of the happenings in our country, lies easily disproven even by their sycophants in the media. One example is the election law in Georgia, distorted for pure political purposes.
If God sent a plague, it would be to emphasize the danger of flaunting His laws and precepts. The United States has seen, since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, over 63 million babies aborted. And the new administration in Washington is attempting to increase access to this barbaric practice, done many times just for the convenience of the ‘mother’. We are increasingly encouraged to accept gay marriage and homosexuality. We have been inundated with the idea that transgenderism is a real and growing movement, even though God clearly created ‘man and woman’.
Perhaps a plague might be used to effect true cooperation between right and left, Democrat and Republican, conservatives and liberals. Using Isaiah 1:18, we could ‘come, let us reason together, says the Lord’, and true peace would rule the land. But today we find people who are at loggerheads with each other, talking past each other and accusing each other of bad faith in dealings with each other. If such peace were to happen because of a plague, the pain and suffering and deprivation would be worth it for our land.
In the Old Testament, God sent troubles to Israel and Judah, teaching them to come back to Him. How I pray that this plague would bring all people of faith back to God, to bring about a new Great Awakening.
None of us can see nor understand the mind of God, but perhaps this plague was sent by Him to make us better and bring us closer to Him who rules our universe.