Unprecedented! What Do I Do Now?

If you prefer videos, watch James' 8 minute YouTube video on this topic here!

If there’s one word that we’ve been hearing often these days it’s the word “unprecedented.”  Unprecedented means never having happened, or never being done before. Many of the things going on today are being described as unprecedented because we’ve never seen anything like this happen before in our life time. 

Never before have we had to shelter in place, and not leave our homes except for essentials. Suddenly, going to the mall or getting together with friends or family for a birthday party is something we did in the past that we took for granted. Never before have entire businesses shut down, causing the economy to come to a standstill almost overnight. Entrepreneurs go in to business for themselves, partly because they can be their own boss, and don’t have to worry about losing their job. Now for the first time ever, some of those entrepreneurs are not working. People who speak for a living, are now finding they have no live audience to speak for, and are therefore out of work, and for how long? Never before have schools been shut down for weeks, forcing teachers and students to do school online, and sports and extracurricular activities to be cancelled. 

Never before have we had to wear masks just to go to a store, while we stay a safe distance away from other shoppers, and pay for our groceries behind a plastic shield, while standing on a giant “X”, and being oh so careful not to touch the cashier’s hand when we take our receipt, and then rush to put on hand sanitizer when we arrive “safely” to our car.  Never before have churches been shut down. Unprecedented!

A few weeks ago, confused by what was going on, my 9 year old asked the question, “If God wants everyone to know Him, why did he close the churches?” L It’s hard to imagine what must be going through the minds of our kids during these “unprecedented” times.

Yet, when we look through Scripture, we see that God’s people have been through unprecedented times before. When God told Noah to build an ark, there had never been a worldwide flood before that abolished all life on earth. Yet Noah had faith, trusted God, and obeyed.

Nearly everything about Moses’ life was unprecedented! All babies under the age of 2 ordered to be killed. Never before had something like this been ordered. Moses was a Jew raised as nobility in the palace by Pharaoh’s daughter as her own son. Unprecedented!

Then, after fleeing to the desert for 40 years, God calls Moses to lead His people out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery. Never in hundreds of years had a Pharaoh released slaves from Egypt but Moses had faith, trusted God, and obeyed his instructions. Moses watched God send 10 plagues that the world had never seen before, and then he watched as God parted the Red Sea so God’s people could cross safely, and escape their enemies. 

And the most significant unprecedented event of all time…God sends his son Jesus to be born as a baby on earth so that 30 some years later, he could die on the cross for our sins, rise from the dead 3 days later, and pave the way for all humanity to have a saving relationship with Him. Imagine the guards standing outside Jesus’ tomb when they discover the tomb is empty. I imagine they looked at each other in fear and said, “Well that’s never happened before!”

So what do we do when we encounter unprecedented times in our life? Aside from the current pandemic, we’ll all experience unprecedented times at some point in our lives. For some, it may be a divorce, the death of a loved one, the loss of a relationship or a job.  

James shared in his last video, how the day after getting back from our honeymoon in 2018, he was brought into an office and told that his job was being eliminated. Never in his working career, since he was 13 years old, had he lost a job or not worked. I know many are facing similar circumstances right now, and my heart goes out to you.

As well, sadly right now is a time when some families are grieving the death of a loved one. God our Father understands this. He watched as his son died a gruesome death on a cross. It grieved him so much he couldn’t watch and had to turn away. It’s comforting to know that we have a God who can empathize with us and knows firsthand the pain we are going through when we lose a loved one.

But, after the initial shock, fear, or disbelief of whatever our unprecedented event is in our lives, I think there are three things based on scripture that we can do to help us get through it. 

1. Remember What God Has Done

·        Make a list of all the ways that God has provided for you in the past whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Write it down and refer back to it whenever fear starts to set in. Has he ever not provided for your real needs? After James lost his job, God still met our needs, and provided another job 6 weeks later. Meanwhile, he got to spend several weeks at home with his new bride!  

·        After bringing the people out of Egypt, God commanded them to always remember what He did for them by celebrating the Passover every year so that future generations would know that God is all powerful, that He provides for their needs, and that He can be trusted. For 40 years, God provided food for them in the desert. While the manna probably wasn’t what they wanted, it was food and sustained them, which is what they needed.

·        And once a month, in most Christian churches, we celebrate communion. When I think about all that Christ did for me on the cross, I can’t help but put the current problems in my life in perspective. Communion is also a time for us to reflect on our own sins that drove Jesus to be nailed to a cross and die such a brutal death, and thank God for giving us the opportunity to spend eternity with Him in heaven if we believe Jesus is the Son of God, confess our sins, and ask Christ to be Lord of our life. If you’ve never done that, I encourage you to take some time to pray and ask Jesus to come in to your life and help you to become more like Christ. If you’re not sure what exactly that means, send James or I a message. We’d love to talk with you more about it.  James 4:8 says “Draw close to God and He will draw close to you.”

·        So, how has God provided for you in the past? Now’s a great time to go for a ride or find a nature preserve and just spend some quiet time with God reflecting. Ask God to help you remember all the times he has provided for you and then write it down.

2. Go to Church

·        I know you’re probably thinking, I’d love to but churches are closed! For now, that means we gather together as an online community. The Bible says do not forsake the gathering together of believers.

·        Hebrews 10:24  “..not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

·        And Matthew 18:20 says “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I among them.”

·        This past weekend we participated in a watch party on Facebook that our good friend organized. It was Dr. David Jeremiah’s church’s weekend message. It was great watching along with several of our friends and being able to comment during and after the service. Dr. Jeremiah made the comment that during this time, more people than ever are able to listen in and hear God’s Word. People are learning technologies that they never would have had any reason to learn before, and God is using that for His glory! God’s Word is being preached and is available in nearly every household! How awesome is that?!

·        And then there’s the ever popular Zoom! If you have school aged kids and you didn’t know what Zoom was, you probably do now! I met with my regular small group on Zoom every week to finish out the semester. If you’re not part of a small group, I encourage you to join one when churches open up again. For both James and I, Christian brothers and sisters in Christ have been an integral part of encouraging us and inspiring us to grow in our faith.      

·        There’s a reason God tells us not to forsake the gathering together of believers. We need each other! Proverbs 27:17 says iron sharpens iron. Galatians 6:2 says we should bear one another’s burdens. And Hebrews 10:25 says we should spur one another on toward love and good deeds. We can’t do any of these things in isolation! We were made to be in community with other believers. Going to church or listening online so we can be fed God’s Word and gathering together with other believers can help us get through unprecedented times.

    3.  Read the Bible

·        The Bible is the primary way that God speaks to us.  Whenever I find myself getting stressed out or anxious, I often also realize that I haven’t been in God’s Word or on my knees in prayer and I remind myself that regardless of what’s going on in my life and the world around me, I need to fix my eyes on Jesus.

Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” 

How we can fix our eyes and thoughts on Jesus is by filling our minds with the Word of God.

·        When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, he had them follow a cloud during the day, and a ball of fire in the sky at night. At the front of the group they also carried the Ark of the Covenant which carried the 10 Commandments, which was so holy only the priests could touch it. The cloud, fire, and the Ark all signified God’s presence. God knows that we are only human and that we can get discouraged sometimes. I think God gave the Israelites these visual signs so that they would keep their eyes on Him. In the same way today, we have the Bible, which are God’s words and promises to us.  When we take our eyes off Jesus and his scriptures, we can easily become discouraged and lose our way.

·        Phillippians 4:8 says “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

·        Try to spend at least 15 minutes a day reading and meditating on God’s Word. Or sometimes I’ll just read one chapter a day. And if you’re married, I encourage you to spend some time reading God’s Word with your spouse as well.

So, to summarize, how should we respond when unprecedented events happen in our lives?

1. Remember what God has already done for you in the past and make a list.

2.  Make it a priority to listen to a church service online every week and when churches open up again, make it a priority to go to church and get connected in a small group.

3. Stay in God’s Word every day!

God bless! Please let us know if there's any way we can pray for you!