COVID-19: The Lord’s Hand
U.S. coronavirus per-capita deaths and total new cases, in space and time respectively.
Rational reasons for patterns can be adduced, and practical lessons should be learned and acted upon. And there are additional data to consider and account for, as well as developments which are less directly apparent.
Nevertheless, those who have recently fasted and prayed in faith may in addition acknowledge the Lord’s hand in this as in all things. In doing so they can recognize that His will prevails, that the blessings that matter most are eternal, and that His promises often apply to peoples as a whole — all of which caution that divine favor or judgment cannot be inferred from individual mortal outcomes.
This retrospective combination of ratiocination and gratitude is the mirror image of the prospective adage, which has merit: pray as if everything depends on the Lord, and then work as if everything depends on you.
The complaint arises — it used to, within me — that this makes for uncontrolled experiments. There is no real evidence or proof here, the skeptic contends.
True. However, forcibly overcoming unbelief with incontrovertible evidence is not the point. Knowing and becoming, through openness to light and walking by faith, yield in time the fruit that matters.