In Exodus 12, Moses and Aaron speak to Pharaoh and say, "Let my people go." Yet he keeps denying them even through all the plagues.
Before the final plague, which is a plague of death, God instructs His people to take the blood of a spring lamb, sacrifice it, cook it and eat it. Then He says to take the blood of that lamb and put it on the lintel or the doorpost of the home and on the sides of the doors. As the spirit of the plague comes across the land, God's people are protected when they are in their homes, under the covering.
This is what God is saying to us today: It's time to separate yourself from the world, self-quarantine, take time to reset and realize that your deliverer is the Lord.
Psalm 91 tells us we abide in the shadow of the Almighty, that place of peace and protection, when we're under the covering of the Lord. It also tells us about things that can happen in life, including diseases and plagues—and viruses. But in His shadow, we find a supernatural peace.
So, for me, God's planned reset is an opportunity to get back in His Word and to be under a voluntary self-quarantine with the Lord. It's not a time to watch the news all day and get more anxious. We do need to listen to the news, but then get in the Word and get the Word in us! It's time to reset because God is about to do something in an accelerated way.
Time for the Harvest
The Lord has been reminding us for quite some time that He is going to do something so unique that people would begin, out of curiosity, to listen and be drawn to the things of God. The church always seems to grow through the most difficult of challenges and difficulties. And the church is us! We're the microcosm of the corporate body. We are a family, the family of Christ. As we rally together in difficult times, we grow deeper in the Lord because we have a purpose beyond the circumstances.
As we're going through this global pandemic, people are overwhelmed, anxious and fearful. But it's also an opportunity for the church to share the very message of God's mercy, grace and purpose beyond the circumstances. We have biblical promises and scriptural examples of what God has done in the past. Disease and crisis are not new.
There are four things that I believe God the Father wants us to remind ourselves, no matter what we go through and especially in this current global crisis:
- Remember His promises so we can walk in His peace.
2. Keep the proper perspective.
3. Know that we have a purpose beyond what we're going through.
4. Fix our gaze on the Lord, the giver of life.
Every year, Passover is a time for all of us to remember how God's people were protected from the plague. But we also remember what happened during a Passover nearly 2,000 years ago, when Jesus was crucified, and on what we now call Easter, when He rose from the grave. Paul tells us Jesus was the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7).
Revelation says He is the Lamb who was slain before the foundations of the world (chapters 5 and 13). He is our Passover. His blood was shed that we could be under His covering, where we experience His grace, mercy and protection. We need to fix our gaze on Him and on the Word, remembering that the work of the cross and the power of the Resurrection can cover us through any kind of crisis.
We can't be distracted by all the noise and all the political divisiveness. Instead, let's focus on what we know is true. We need to be tethered with the Lord in deeper consecration. We need to fix our eyes on Jesus so we can keep the right perspective and experience His peace.
If you're among those who are not able to work right now, get into a voluntary, personal quarantine with God—get His Word in you. Because what's about to happen is an opportunity for the world to see the church shine. I believe we're going to see the visions fulfilled that God has given to so many of us—visions of people who are curious and begin coming into the church. We need to be ready for them.
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