It was almost 5 years ago when the “Coronavirus pandemic” started. At that time I wrote a newsletter article about “hope.” That continues to be a critical message for our precious neighbors here in Los Angeles. I only personally know a few people who have lost their homes, but my heart breaks for all who have lost homes, businesses, and family members to these wildfires. Countless thousands are hurting from what has already occurred, and countless others are fearful of what may happen in the coming days as the fires continue to burn. This Sunday we will take a break from our study of the book of Revelation and spend some time looking at what we believe to be true about God and how that helps in times of crisis. Our great God and Savior can be trusted because He is sovereign over all things at all times.
Below is the article I wrote in March 2020. Our Lord is sovereign over the Coronavirus and He is sovereign over these wildfires. Please read the article (again) and meditate on biblical hope. Then prayerfully go out with the love and compassion of Jesus to our neighbors, meet whatever needs they may have, and especially tell them about Jesus. He is their only hope both for this life and beyond the grave.
From March 20, 2020:
The Apostle Paul describes people who don’t know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior as being “separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (Eph. 2:12 – NASB95) This is not to say they don’t hope in something (religion, money, self), but that the object in which they have placed their hope will not deliver them in the end. Biblical hope is a “present assurance of a future promised good.” We don’t hope it will happen; we know it will happen. As we face the pandemic of COVID-19, many people are without hope. But we are not strangers of the covenants of promise. We have the Scriptures which contain God’s promises to His people. When we go about our lives with supreme hope in our Lord Jesus, people will notice the difference and ask us about it (1 Peter 3:15). We will then have the glorious opportunity to tell them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how they can share in our hope through Him.
Below are 40 passages of Scripture for you to read and meditate upon. Be reminded of the sure hope we have in Jesus; a hope that does not disappoint. I pray that the Lord will use these Scriptures to strengthen your heart during these troublesome times and enable you to go forward with great confidence and no fear.
God Offers Peace for Those Who Trust in Him
John 14:27 (NASB95) – 27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
John 16:33 (NASB95) – 33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Philippians 4:6–7 (NASB95) – 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Jeremiah 17:7–8 (NASB95) – 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. 8 “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.”
Isaiah 26:3 (NASB95) – 3 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.”
2 Thessalonians 3:16 (NASB95) – 16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!
Psalm 4:8 (NASB95) – 8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.
God Calms the Fears of Those Who Turn to Him
Psalm 112:7–8 (NASB95) – 7 He will not fear evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. 8 His heart is upheld, he will not fear, until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries.
Isaiah 41:10 (NASB95) – 10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NASB95) – 6 “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”
Psalm 56:3 (NASB95) – 3 When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.
Isaiah 43:1–2 (NASB95) – 1 But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you.”
Psalm 23:4 (NASB95) – 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Luke 12:22–24 (NASB95) – 22 And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!”
Isaiah 41:13 (NASB95) – 13 “For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’”
Hebrews 13:6 (NASB95) – 6 so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
God’s Hope Is Real to Those Who Have Faith
Psalm 33:18–22 (NASB95) – 18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness, 19 to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name. 22 Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in You.
Romans 5:1–5 (NASB95) – 1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 15:4 (NASB95) – 4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:13 (NASB95) – 13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (NASB95) – 16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Romans 12:12 (NASB95) – 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,
1 Peter 1:3 (NASB95) – 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Hebrews 10:23–24 (NASB95) – 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
God Cares for Those Who Hope in Him
1 Peter 5:7 (NASB95) – 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Psalm 147:11 (NASB95) – 11 The Lord favors those who fear Him, those who wait for His lovingkindness.
Isaiah 30:18 (NASB95) – 18 Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him.
Psalm 36:7 (NASB95) – 7 How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
Psalm 62:8 (NASB95) – 8 Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Jeremiah 31:3 (NASB95) – 3 The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.
Romans 8:32 (NASB95) – 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
John 15:7 (NASB95) – 7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
1 John 5:14 (NASB95) – 14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
John 10:14 (NASB95) – 14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,”
John 10:27 (NASB95) – 27 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;”
Psalm 94:19 (NASB95) – 19 When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.
God is in Control of the Coronavirus: We Can Trust Him
Proverbs 3:5–6 (NASB95) – 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
Romans 8:38–39 (NASB95) – 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Daniel 2:20–21 (NASB95) – 20 Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. 21 It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.”
Isaiah 55:8–9 (NASB95) – 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Psalm 33:4–11 (NASB95) – 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the lovingkindness of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. 9 For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. 10 The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.