Reflection on the Coronavirus Crisis

WCIU Journal: Health and Disease Topic

March 23, 2020

by Mike Soderling, MD, MBA (International Development)

Mike Soderling was a medical missionary in Guatemala for 10 years. He is the director for Health for All Nations and the Chief Governance Officer of William Carey International University.

The present global crisis ignited by the jump of COVID19 from being a relatively harmless and unknown animal inhabitant to destroyer of human life should not be seen, as some are accustomed to portray, as the work of God or His desire to punish the human race for their bad behavior. As if killing thousands of innocent people (yes I know we are all guilty of sin), some of whom were no doubt faithful followers of Jesus, would be His way of teaching the world a lesson. No, we must give credit where credit is due. We believe Satan is the author of lies and is ultimately the cause of such calamities in the world. He loves to see God's people and His creation destroyed, or at the least led astray into worshiping false idols. But the hope we have as God’s people, His Church, is that He is able to cause good to come from any situation. These are our opportunities to truly shine the light of Christ in very dark places and in dire situations. We cannot be like the world and retreat into our shells (though we must also heed the mandate handed down by our governing authorities). But we must reach out in appropriate ways to the most vulnerable in our communities to bring hope and healing where there is otherwise mainly fear and dis-ease. There are many very practical ways the Church can still be the salt and light in these dark times.