Well, our Nextdoor discussion does seem to be winding down. I guess I'll toss in some of my own thoughts, in case some may be wondering. 

We've had many wonderful comments that seem to me to have captured various aspects of what the Bible says about where God is in a picture like the one we're facing. It's complicated! And many aspects are involved. 

So many people seem to be sensing that God is calling for our attention that this is the aspect I think I want to elaborate a bit. "God calling for our attention" seems to assume that He is playing an active role in creating this situation. The Tony Evans video mentioned above stopped short of saying--denied, really--that God directly sent this virus. This is the one thing in that excellent video that seemed to me, perhaps, to come up short.

I say "perhaps," because how can I dare to speak for God where He has not spoken for Himself? But in the verse that Kim Stegall mentioned, God really did take ultimate responsibility for all disasters.

Dan Mason (like all of us, I feel quite sure!) puzzles over why God allows bad things to happen. Of course the Bible has a whole book dealing with that problem: the book of Job. 

Those who know the story know that in the opening chapters, Satan gets God's permission to afflict Job. "So far, so good," we might think; Satan, not God, is the author of disaster. But in Job 2:3, God to Satan, "You have incited Me against him to ruin him without cause." God speaks as though He Himself had afflicted Job! And that's certainly what Job thought, as he wrestled for chapter after chapter with hard questions about why these sufferings had come upon him--without finding any answers at all.

Finally, in the last few chapters of the book, God spoke up. He never explained what happened. He never blamed Satan for it. He just asked Job, in essence, "Where were you when I set up the Universe?" In other words, "I know what I'm doing, Job; your job [ahem!] is to humble yourself and trust me." So, really, the main thing God authorizes us to say about where He is in situations like this is that He is in charge.

But God's being in charge carries implications that we must also accept. And Job did accept them: his last words in the book are, "I repent in dust and ashes." 

The amazing thing is that, from the glowing terms with which God described Job to Satan at the beginning of the book, Job didn't have anything to repent of! (Well, relatively speaking, anyway.) If we hold ourselves and our culture up to that mirror, with honesty and not self-justification, we realize that we all have a BOATLOAD of repenting to do! If a man like Job repented under God's afflicting hand, how could we possibly excuse ourselves for hardening our stubborn hearts? That's the surest way to bring even more trouble upon ourselves!

I don't claim to know what all forces of Heaven, nature, and Hell are operating in this coronavirus situation. The Bible is clear, though, there are things WAY more important than our earthly health and wealth. And God is doing us a huge, kind, favor when He deprives us of those comforts and pleasures in order to get our attention onto the sins that will eventually cost us those things anyway, while there is time to repent and find Him--and in finding Him, we find all that REALLY matters in life anyway. Not that earthly things don't matter at all, but they matter only insofar as they are His gifts to us, with which we serve Him in return, so that He is in His rightful place as all in all.

Of course there is much more to the question of where God is in this picture, and a number of neighbors have expressed some of those other things very eloquently. But it seems to me that we have to get this part right before the other parts can fall into their respective places.

I can't claim to get everything just exactly right in trying to describe the primary role that the Bible reveals God playing in this situation. So I welcome valid correction! And I'm sure I haven't written with perfect clarity, either, so I am willing to clarify as well.

[I wrote this paragraph while intending to post this on Nextdoor; I guess I will leave it here for now.] This post will likely strike some as a little (or a lot!) "soapboxy," which would put it out of bounds for Nextdoor. As I understand the "soapbox" idea, it's a matter of self-promotion. What makes me feel justified in writing this post here is that I am not stumping for myself or even for my religion. I'm just trying to offer from my own heart a gift of the Bible's truth that I hope may come to someone as a blessing. As I've said before, if it gets taken down, so be it. If I could see any possible harm (genuine harm) in what I have written, I would not post it.

That word "blessing" brings to mind one last verse. Referring to Jesus, Acts 3:26 says, "God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways." God bless America, indeed! And, as He promised to Abraham, may He bless all the families of the earth.