What COVID-19 Has Not Cancelled

When I sat down on the first of March, I did what I do every month. I mapped out my schedule and plans for the entire month. Almost every day was filled with at least some sort of activity, meeting, or plan.

And now everything on my calendar has seemingly been cancelled.

I’m sure you can relate in some way.

Large gatherings were cancelled. Concerts and events were cancelled. Churches were cancelled. Schools were cancelled and are now being done online.

I know for many of us this hasn’t been easy. If I’m totally honest, there is no part of this that has been easy for me. However, in the midst of COVID-19 cancelling my schedule and plans, I was reminded of some things that the coronavirus cannot cancel.

Here are just a few of those things:

Corona Cannot Cancel God’s Love

Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

COVID-19 is not greater than God’s love for us. Corona can’t separate us from the love of Jesus.

God’s love is stronger than any virus or sickness, even death. And His love is not going away or cancelling just because of a national pandemic.

Corona Cannot Cancel God’s Presence with Us

Isaiah 41:10 reminds us, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” 

And Joshua 1:9 tells us this promise, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” 

In Matthew 28:20 we’re reminded by Jesus that, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Over and over in Scripture we are told that He is with us, that He is close to us, and that He won’t ever leave us.

When you feel like you’re going a little bit crazy stuck at home, please remember that social distancing doesn’t apply to God. He is with us and close to us, even here.

Corona Cannot Cancel God’s Plans

I’ve always been one to plan out my entire life. I schedule and plan out everything.

So when suddenly everything on my schedule got cancelled, I sort of panicked a little bit. (Okay, maybe a lot.)

But I was reminded of this verse in Proverbs 16:9 that reminds us, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” And in James 4:14-15 it says, “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”

The truth is that we don’t know at all what will happen tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or even next year.

We can make our plans and fill our schedules but only God truly knows what is going to happen. And God’s plans? They’re the ones that can’t be cancelled.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

This promise was given to the people of Judah at the same time God is telling them that they will be in exile and captivity to Babylon for seventy years. That message as a whole probably didn’t make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Even though they’d been given a promise that God had good plans for them, I doubt it felt good to them at the time. It probably felt scary, uncertain, or stressful.

I don’t know what God’s plans for us include, but I know they’re good because He’s good. They won’t always feel good according to me and they won’t always look good at first. But I trust Him because I know who He is and I know He is good.

COVID-19 can’t cancel God’s love for us, His presence with us, or His plans for us. And because of that, friends, we have so much reason to hope.

So no matter where today finds you (you know, in which room of your house), hold onto the truth that a lot of things in your life may have been cancelled this month, but these things can never be cancelled.

Great is His faithfulness to us.

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