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Are You Worried

It appears there is a great deal of worry and concern over what has been labeled the Coronavirus or COVID-19. What I think about all that is going on concerning it is not essential in this short column. What is important is what you think about it and how that thinking affects your life. I mainly want to share some scripture to remind you of God's love and care.

One of my favorite set of verses is Proverbs 3:5, 6. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thine ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths." It's a simple reminder that not just now in our current situation, but in every circumstance of life, we can trust God. Nothing is too big for Him, neither is anything too small or insignificant. He can be trusted and should be trusted. Similar to that is I Peter 5:7, "Casting all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you." Being overcome with all that sometimes comes into our lives is not uncommon. When that happens, we are not considering the reality of God and His presence. We are told over and over in His Word. He loves you so much that He gave you Jesus to pay the penalty for your sin. That is a lot of love, and it's still just as real for you today.

Psalm 121 "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from evil; He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever." I read those words, and it does something inside me to bring me back to an understanding, no matter what situation is going on in my life that God is what I need most to get me through it.

I pray that this may be true in your life too. There are common sense things you can do to help in most situations, but ultimately God is what we need most.

Pastor Lynn Rettig

Musselshell Community Bible Church

Nothing To Fear!

This has been a frustrating week for me because I have gotten Coronavirus protocols from 2 different denominations, and not one of them has mentioned the protection that God offers to ALL of His children! How have we become so worldly that God’s Word no longer holds truth for us? When did our country and now the churches abandon the very Word of God that it was founded on? And do we expect God to continue to bless us as a nation and as individuals in that nation?

Let me share two experiences I have had and have never forgotten. I was reading in Exodus 15:26 while preparing to go on a mission trip to the Isle of Roitan which is just off the coast of Honduras. I believed what it said. The trip leader was passing out medicine to ward off Montezuma’s Revenge (amoebic dysentery – diarrhea) to all of us who were going on the trip. I refused the medication, preferring to rely on the Exodus Scripture listed above. I was the only one who refused the medication. On the way home from our week on Roitan, everyone except me had severe diarrhea! God is true to His Word if we believe it and take Him at His Word. Self-effort is always an abomination to God! Does that mean we don’t have to take precautions, NO. It means we have to stop being in a panic about a new disease our Enemy has dreamed up and put into our midst. That God is still God and we are still His beloved children. Have we forgotten that. Did the other 6 or 8 people on that mission trip have less faith than me? I don’t know. I just know what happened to me when I took God at His Word.

I would advise all Christians who really love the Lord Jesus and our Heavenly Father to take the words of Psalm 91 to heart. He promises us that we need not fear the terror by day or night that it will not come near our homes. Is God lying? Is it just pleasant words? Or can we trust Him to keep us safe and free from the pestilence in our midst? Yes, we still need to wash our hands, stay away from sick people – unless you are a caregiver or chaplain. I was a Medical Technologist for many years and it was not by my doing, but the Christ Who lives in me, that many times I was the only one in our 500 bed hospital laboratory that was well enough to go to work. The rest were laid up with the flu or the virus or whatever was going around, but I wasn’t. The Grace of God! Not anything I did, but just Jesus at work.

Another experience I had was that one night while on emergency call, we had a child with bacterial meningitis. The doctor did a spinal tap on the child and the built up fluid shot out into the room and everyone in it. The doctor handed me the vial of spinal fluid to take to the lab to test. Every other person in that room, doctor, nurse, aides, etc. were given antibiotics to prevent them from getting sick from the bacteria that was in the spinal fluid – except me. You see, I had taken the vial to the lab to culture it and run chemistry tests on it so they forgot about me. That was OK, God didn’t. I never got sick. Oh, I could have requested the antibiotic, but chose to trust Exodus 15:26 instead. The best medicine one could have.

Child of God, you have nothing to fear. God loves you. Just trust Him. HE NEVER LIES!

Rev. Joyce Kaplan, M.Div., Retired United Church of Christ pastor.