It is well over a month, although it does seem longer, that our lives have been turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are like me you’re getting tired of hearing so much about it, yet it is still a major influence in how we live each day. In such struggle we have a gracious God who is with us. Some may question why He allowed such a thing to happen. It is the result of sin’s destructive fall out. When sin entered the world, perfection was lost and things now go wrong; calamities, failures, diseases, frustrations, death, etc.

The good news is that our almighty God can still use all those things, that look so bad and mistreat us in various ways, for good. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians alludes to a similar time he faced: “Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead; he delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.” (2 Corinthians 1:9-10)

In that hope Paul mentions a way God can use troubled, even perilous times. A few verses previous to those quoted above Paul mentions how the things we face can help us help others. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

We are assured of God’s ability to comfort us with the hope of bringing good out of evil. Remember how God brought good for all of us out of the most terrible, tragic event to ever occur in all of history. About 2,000 years ago God’s Son came into our world as one of us human beings. The creator became one of His creatures. But His creatures rejected Him. Having lived among them for about 33 years those creatures finally put God’s Son to death. Again sin’s effect on the world and everything and everyone in it brought about that terrible death. The sins I am talking about include our sins. You and I are just as at fault as anyone else for causing God’s Son, Jesus Christ, to be put death.

In that greatest of tragic events we also find the greatest comforting good that God now provides for us. In that terrible death, the consequences of everyone’s sins (eternal death) have been paid for. Jesus’ death enables God to declare all of our sins forgiven. We no longer need fear God’s just judgment, but now see a loving, caring, comforting God who is with us always. In that assurance we also know what Paul also mentions, “God who raises the dead.” Jesus did die on that cross, but He rose from the dead three days later. He is not dead, but alive as we celebrate in this Easter season. In His living we live in the comfort He brings. May we live each day, in this troubling time, knowing God is with us and share God’s comforting presence with anyone one with whom we communicate.

If you need prayers and/or spiritual help in this time, please contact St. Paul Lutheran Church, Fredonia (672-6731 or stpaullcfredonia@outlook.com), Immanuel Lutheran Church, Gowanda (532-4342), or Trinity Lutheran Church, Silver Creek (934-2002).