We are all fearful right now. Each and every day brings different or similar fears to our hearts. This can be fear around COVID—getting it getting over it, passing it along, general fear of dying, fear of having enough money, fear of the future, fear of global warming/weather or numerous other fears. God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). God has been convicting over the last year and a half of my fear especially in regards to COVID and I want to share them with you. He has shown me that we are giving into fear instead of giving in to love. He is showing me a way forward that will help all of us.
Fear is the root of many if not all of the issues of our day. In a wonderful sermon by Dr Martin Lloyd Jones (https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons-online/2-timothy-1-12/the-nature-of-fear/) he explains how we, as fallen humans, want to be in control but we were not designed to be in control. He talks about the significant benefits of not living in fear but living in power, love and a sound mind. It is definitely worth your listen. God has designed Himself to be in control and we are subservient to Him. Instead we have displaced Him from the control of our lives and live without reference to Him. When disasters happen then we realize how little control we have and we act out of fear which is what is happening in our society. I believe the government wants to get control on this virus but cannot and they are acting in a way contrary to how they have acted in the past. They are pushing vaccines and may be effective, but they are not perfect. Even the medical community has been acting out of fear and now people are afraid to even contact their providers when they get sick (https://rumble.com/vlqdpo-dr-peter-mccullough-lecture-on-the-state-of-covid-treatment.html).
The virus itself plays on our fear as it seems to make seemingly healthy people get sick, die or have long term complications. I do think that over time we will understand more fully but right now we can test for “true health” via functional testing to look at your immune system and how it is doing. I believe that those who do get gravely sick have underlying issues with their immune system. I also believe that it is all made worse with the isolation and the anxiety that that produces.
The media also likes to pray on our fears making COVID seem worse that it is so that people continue to watch and read their stories. Even though it is bombarded to us daily, the statistics do not warrant us being that concerned. It is hard to know exactly how many people have had the virus as not all have been tested but the mortality rate is still less than 1% (somewhere between 0.2% and 0.3% in the best and worst countries).
My own fear journey has been fear related to dying early on when I got sick (not with COVID) and learning about the a physician die in China early on but then it got some better for awhile and then after the delta variant started spreading again I again got concerned but then God showed me He is still in control and none of this is out of His control and I can rest in Him. Also it helps to go back to the statistics again and realize that everyone is making it out to be possibly worse than it is.
Instead we should have been reaching out and helping those around us instead of turning inward. We should be reaching out to our medical health care providers when we initially get sick (certainly I would like to know and I can offer some supplements and possibly some medications that will help some to decrease the severity of disease. We should also continue to take vitamin C, D on a regular basis and also notify me or other functional medical providers to find out how healthy we are in order to understand that we will not get gravely sick and also we will not be afraid.
In this time of remembering 9/11/2001, at that time we came together as a country (short lived) and offered help to others around us and we need to do that again. I want us to live and not be afraid. I want us to minister to our neighbors and friends again. I want us to reach out and help the vulnerable. I want our eyes to be on God the creator and redeemer of us. I want us to keep our focus on eternal life and not worry about what happens here. To be like Luther during the black plague that did kill 30% of the population of Europe and had Christians ministering to others even if it meant their own death.