As a human, I hate hardship. I like to know what is going on and how to live in relative comfort and freedom. So, when this pandemic hit, I, like many others around the world, had to wrestle to understand how to process the tension felt over my complete lack of control.

As a believer, this placed me face to face with the spiritual tension between what my flesh wanted and what my soul craved. I grappled with the tension caused by living as a new creation in this broken world and frail body. But as I faced this reality, God began preparing me to grow in His likeness through spending more time in His word. After reading Psalm 119:71, God showed me how to view the tension positively in my life.

 “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”

As a human, I forget that I am a stranger traveling toward a promised land.  Yet this current pandemic has revealed the truth of this tension more clearly. It has compelled me to think about how to faithfully live with hope and patience when my routines are turned upside down with no endpoint in sight. Psalm 119:71 reminded me that any tension I wrestle through has the ultimate purpose of good in my life. I found it interesting that the Hebrew word for afflicted means to be humbled or brought low. This pandemic has humbled the world in many ways; it has revealed how vulnerable and helpless we are at times over something so invisible to our eyes.

As a believer, Psalm 119:71 reminded me that what I truly seek, especially during a worldwide pandemic, is to find safety and security in my relationship with Christ. To grow toward greater glory through the abundant grace He provides in my weakness. This requires me to admit my tendency to resent any kind of struggle in my life; to lay down my desire for control and move with God in the direction of growth. Instead of complaining each step of the way, I must acknowledge that His goodness allows for the tension and give thanks for the learning opportunity. His words are life. After Covid has run its course, I want to honestly speak the psalmist’s words and declare that this affliction has led me to know Him in a deep, transforming way.

How are you coping with the difficulties of Covid? How can I pray for you? Do you desire to be drawn closer to Christ through this hardship?