Devotions for Teachers: Finding Peace in the Pandemic
18 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
Isaiah 43:18-19
Such a time as this has really called for some devotions…but I haven’t had the words. I’ve found strength from other people’s wisdom during this time, but I haven’t felt any words ready to pour out of me in quite a while.
If you write anything at all, you know that’s how this works. The words come when they’re ready, and not a moment sooner.
I heard this verse from Isaiah in a podcast last week, and it’s been rolling around in my head ever since. I finally realized today that I had some words to write. I’m not saying I have answers about how to live and teach in a global pandemic. I don’t have wisdom about how to be a mom and a wife and teacher all in the same room at the same time. I don’t know how to stop fear from gripping you late at night when you should be sleeping. I’m still wrestling with these things, myself.
When I heard this verse last week, I kept thinking about the line “See, I am doing a new thing!” I was out on a walk in my neighborhood, socially distancing myself from those around me by crossing the street to avoid people on the same sidewalk as me, and was wondering if I liked this new thing. I wasn’t so sure I trusted the direction we were being taken.
Guys. Our faith is being so deeply tested right now. In this verse in Isaiah, God is chastising His people for losing faith. He’s pointing out all of the ways that he has delivered them from evil thus far, and yet their faith is still wavering…so now he’s literally having to say out loud: “Guys! Have I let you down yet??? I am doing a new thing here, and you will like it. I have parted seas, delivered you from slavery, fed you along the way…and you still think you’re being led astray?!”
I’ve seen memes going around lately saying things like: ‘Millennials are over here having survived 9/11, SARS, Ebola, Hurricane Katrina, an economic recession, war, etc. etc. and now a global pandemic! And we’re tired!” (Obviously all of the memes are more succinct and witty than the way I just wrote that…but you get the point.)
And I’m looking at this really incredible list of things we’ve endured, and now I’m feeling differently about it.
Yes. The terrorist attacks happened. The disease has come. Many of us lost jobs, or graduated college to venture into a drowning economy. Natural disasters have destroyed lives. And yet, He was always doing a new thing. It’s hard to see it in the moment, and maybe you look back on some of the ways those events impacted your life, and you still don’t see God’s hand, but you always made it out. And that, my friend, is evidence of his provision.
And here we sit, in the middle of what feels like the darkest of days, and I can just feel Him saying to me “But, I am doing a new thing here, Stephanie. Do you not see it? After all of the darkness I have delivered you from in your life, you don’t think I have already carved out this path for you?”
I’m ashamed to admit it took me many, many days of watching the storm of this pandemic roll in before I decided to pray about my fear. I prayed for the health of my family. I prayed that this would be over soon. But I didn’t pray about my anxiety, or my outright dislike about all of this change that’s happened so quickly. I’ve known He is there, and I have sat in fear, not seeking comfort. When I really think about this, I know that it’s because, deep down, I was worried that maybe He wasn’t really going to be waiting for me. I was worried that when I went looking for comfort, I wouldn’t find it. Instead, I have sought comfort by obsessing over headlines and Facebook posts, looking for something rational so I could whisper to myself, “ok, we’re ok. This is ok.”
I have sought comfort by looking at the numbers over, and over, and over again…trying to weigh the severity of my town versus our city. My state versus the country…all in an effort to help me sleep at night, by believing that the worst of this wasn’t coming for us.
But to be honest…not a second of that brought me comfort. It left me frazzled, cold, and alone.
Maybe you’ve been sitting in that cold, alone place too. I’m gently urging you to come out now. Come out into the light and just spill your guts to Jesus. Tell him who you’re worried about, what you’re afraid of, what your worst-case scenario is, what you are mourning the loss of…it feels selfish at first. But it’s not. He cares deeply about our wounds and our struggles in this time. because he knew it was coming…and he knew we wouldn’t be ready for any of it.
You just might hear him say the same thing to you: See? I am doing a new thing. It wasn’t in your plan, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. The way this is impacting life as we know it is exactly how I planned it. Trust that I’m paving the way for you, and relax in that knowing. Take comfort and rest.