I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this.

Lamentations 3:20-21 NLT

I am cursed with a vivid imagination.

Sooner or later all of my thoughts flow down the river of what-could-be that empties into the sea of worst-case. Paranoia strikes. My stomach churns, I can’t sleep, I start to drown in dark forebodings. I have always been this way, and try as I might, I just can’t seem to stop it.

Thoughts spark ideas, ideas form images, images terrify!

When I was a little kid, around 7 or 8, our family took a trip to Virginia Beach for summer vacation. I can remember sitting in the back seat of our station wagon with my two sisters looking out the side window at the blurry landscape as we drove down the highway. As we got closer to our beach cabin, we took a lazy backroad where we passed a small broken down shed, and I said out loud, “I wonder if any family lives in that house?” And my dad, who was a born kidder, said to me from the front seat, “I just bought that house. After vacation our whole family is going to move in there.”

I looked at the place and I sat there horrified. I wondered to myself how a family of eight could survive in that place? Soon I wailed, “No, we will never fit. It probably has rats and mice, and no place to cook. No!!!!” My sisters started laughing, “Chris, dad is kidding. We are not moving in there.” But I was too caught up in my paranoia to hear and reason. After a good ten minutes of crying and hyperventilating, I calmed down, finally. And once again my sisters reassured me, “Chris, dad is kidding.”

The old road was only a few miles long which led right to our beach side rental cabin. The blue waves were crashing on the beach, the sun was high in the sky, and soon I forgot the whole nasty ordeal. But my family will never let me forget it. Paranoia will destroy ya!

This corona virus has me feeling the same way: My stomach churns, it is hard to sleep, my thoughts are flowing down river again. So how do I keep a level head? How do I fight the darkness that paranoia brings? Should I read as much as I can on the escalating infection numbers? Watch the Dow Jones reports minute by minute? Hoard toilet paper and Lucky Charms?

What is a rational God fearing person to do before his thoughts end up in the sea of worst-case?

Go to God. Run to the rock that is higher than I. And a passage of scripture that guides me through darkest of times is found in Lamentations 3:20-33. Listen very closely…

I will never forget this awful time,
    as I grieve over my loss.
²¹ Yet I still dare to hope
    when I remember this:

²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
²³ Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
    to those who search for him.
²⁶ So it is good to wait quietly
    for salvation from the Lord.
²⁷ And it is good for people to submit at an early age
    to the yoke of his discipline:

²⁸ Let them sit alone in silence
    beneath the Lord’s demands.
²⁹ Let them lie face down in the dust,
    for there may be hope at last.
³⁰ Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them
    and accept the insults of their enemies.

³¹ For no one is abandoned
    by the Lord forever.
³² Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
    because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
³³ For he does not enjoy hurting people
    or causing them sorrow.

The situation that this passage was written in was dire. The beloved city of Jerusalem was under siege and the people were suffering. The poetry behind Lamentations is dark, that is why it is called a lament. It is written as a heart-cry of humanity in distress.

During times like this the heart wonders if God has abandoned them? Is he for us or against us? Is he even good?

Have you wondered this at all as you hear the news? I do! Remember, I am still worried that I may have to still live in that roadside house someday. But instead of letting those thoughts flow and get swept away in the strong currents where you have no control to stop them, consider what is actually being said here.

(1) The Faithful Love of the Lord Never Ends. Faithful love is also rendered “mercy” in other versions. “His Mercies Never Come to an End” as the song goes. God is kind, and even though we have not been perfect followers or haven’t done things right, mercy holds worst-case back. God can change the course of the flow of the river. God wants to because he loves us.

(2) Those Who Depend on Him He Will Rescue. I believe God allows times like this for a very important purpose: To see who wants him. Over the weekend while the country was shutting down schools and businesses, many people snubbed their noses at the government’s recommendations and partied all night at bars and dance clubs. It is the heart of the rebel to rely on self. Not me sir, no way. I cannot make it on my own. I need God. And the beauty of times like this is that God wants to be needed, he is God. He made us for himself. Have you ever noticed, when life is great people forget God? So what God does is allow pain now so we will forever have joy. Read Romans 8:18-21 and you will see what I mean.

(3) It is Good to Wait Quietly, and Sit Alone in Silence. I once heard a wise man talking about how one of the tragedies in our world is that no one is allowed to be sad anymore. And sadness is what causes us to think about important and worthy things. But for years our culture has been flooded with constant entertainment and amusement. Both of these time-suckers distract us from what really is important, to contemplate our own brokenness. So I believe, to get us to think, God has to somehow take both of these away. I think that is what is actually going on. Listen to verse 26-28 again, “It is good to wait quietly…And it is good for people at an early age…Let them sit alone in silence.”

Why would this be good? Because we are made for more than eating, watching sports and movies, and hoarding wealth. We are made for eternity where we will care about God and the people he made.

I was reading something that shook me to core. It is a book on writing called “The Writing Life” by Anne Dillard. In the book she said the greatest fear a writer can have is that “you may excite in your fellow man not curiosity but profound indifference.” What is profound indifference? When you work and work and no one notices and no one changes and no one cares. That is a scary thought.

Now imagine you are God. He creates a perfect world. He sends us showers for our crops, air for our lungs, sun for our warmth, beauty in a sunset for our joy, and most of the world responds with ‘profound indifference.’ And then, and then, he sends his Son to die and people yawn!

How would you feel if you were God?

Listen once again to verse 33, “He does not enjoy hurting people.” But he does want people to want him, he is the best thing for us! I like to think of it like this, “He loves us enough to hurt us.”

So instead of letting worry consume you, meditate on the character of God. Let this verse wash over you and be at peace (Deut. 33:26).

There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty.

And one last thing, there are a lot of people in your own community who have it much worse than you. Pray for them, reach out and visit. Loneliness abounds.