Locked In With The Lord

I have some sweet praise reports.  Answers to our prayers!  Floyd's doctor was on duty over the weekend, so he saw a lot of Floyd.  He said Floyd is doing well.  His chest is clear, he's calm and at peace, and he's had the strength for them to put him in his chair. 

I have been sending video messages to him.  The therapist who plays them for him says that he connects and responds as she plays them for him - usually with various sounds he makes in his throat.  She said she thinks he's agreeing with me - and sending love back. :)  I'm blessed!

While I've been in isolation, I've had lots of different emotions impacting me.  I've been trying to identify and understand them.  I am beginning to get some clarity.  I think one of the things we are all facing is some level of grief.  I've faced a lot of grief the last few years, but I'm finding this is different.  I know it's important to grieve our losses during this time - whatever they might be.

At first I didn't see how I could be grieving.  No one close to me had passed away.  That's what we usually associate with grief.  And I've learned so much these last few years - God has helped me so much.  I thought that surely I could cope with and handle this season too.  But I'm learning that this season is unlike anything I (we) have faced before!  There are new things we're all facing - new things to deal with - new lessons to learn.

For some of you, there may be loss of a loved one during this time.  There may be loss of health - particularly if you've had the virus.  There is loss of everything that is familiar and normal - loss of our way of life.  There's a loss of expectations.....a loss of events we were looking forward to.  My granddaughter, like many students, has lost all her senior year activities, including her graduation ceremony.  Perhaps you're facing loss of income, loss of your job.  If you're like me, you could be facing loss of personal contact as you isolate all alone.  I'm facing loss of my visiting and being with Floyd.  I send videos to him, but it's not the same.

I didn't anticipate having grief during this time.  Grief can be exhausting.  It's constantly there - coming up in new and unexpected ways.  Just figuring out how to walk through all this, how to survive it, is in itself exhausting and draining.  It's hard to be as productive as we'd like to be - after all, we've got all this time now!  But being productive can be hard while we face and grieve unexpected things.

It's OKAY to say this is hard!  People the world over are acknowledging that this is an extremely hard time.  We're in the middle of a worldwide pandemic.  Very few people alive have ever faced that - there are just a few who went through the one in 1918.  This is stressful and uncharted territory.  We're all learning together how to navigate it.

One of the things that's become clear to me is how important self-care is right now.  Each of us must find activities that bring us rest, peace, and joy in this current season.  We need to find things that sustain us.  We must take care of ourselves physically (exercise, healthy food, sleep), spiritually (time with the Lord each day), and emotionally (what that may be will be different for everyone).  

We must "be kind" to ourselves.  I read one article that said because we have all this extra time right now, there's a temptation to put all kinds of expectations on ourselves of what we "should" accomplish.  Maybe, in the end, we'll actually accomplish less - but come through this time in a healthy way.  

During this time if we're struggling,  we should reach out to one another for support.  A burden shared is half a burden!!  We're meant for our lives to be interwoven through good times and hard times.  We can help one another as we walk together, but at a distance, through this.

Whatever we are facing during this unusual season - God will help us with it.  He wants us to look to Him, and to take care of ourselves. 

"He was....a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."  Isaiah 53:3

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."  Matthew 5:4

"The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears!"  Psalm 34:17

"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."  Galatians 6:2

"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest."  Mark 6:31

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."  Mark 1:35 

"Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well."  3 John 1:2

I'm confident we will take many lessons learned during this time into our "new normal" of the future.   God will be with us each day!  He will "instruct us in the way we should go."  He will strengthen us and give us daily grace.  He is faithful always - and certainly during this unprecedented time.

I love how time and time again the Word speaks to us about the things that we experience.  Being "locked in" these days because of COVID 19 seems like such an unusual and strange thing to walk through.  And yet, it's not the first time that there have been lockdown type of experiences - although perhaps not of the same scale and magnitude that we are experiencing.  But we can go back to Biblical times and find examples of being "locked in" for us to learn from.

A friend passed on to me a list that someone had done of examples of being locked in taken from the Word.  They bear looking at.  I have adapted them to my way of understanding and applying them.

·      Genesis 39:20,21  -  When he was sold into slavery, Joseph ended up being put into prison.  He was quite literally locked in.  But the Lord was with Joseph in prison.  The result was that because of God being with him, he found favour.  He was given responsibility.  Whatever he did, the Lord made it to prosper throughout his life - blessing him, his family, and all of the kingdom. 

·      Exodus 12:22 – 27  -  The Israelites were told to put the blood of a lamb over their doorposts and to not go outside.  They were locked into their homes.  When the Lord passed through to smite the Egyptians, they would be passed over.  The result was an amazing deliverance.  They were set free from bondage.  This testimony would be part of their story, their inheritance forever.

·      Daniel 3:23  -  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were tied up and thrown into the fire.  They were locked into the flaming furnace.  The result was that God came into their midst.  The king saw 4 men in the furnace - walking around unbound and unharmed.  The result is that they were delivered, their faith was strengthened, and they were able to be a testimony to the nation.  They didn't even smell of smoke after their time in the furnace. 

·      Daniel 6:16 – 23  -  Daniel was thrown into the lion's den because he prayed to God, a stone was placed at the entrance, and the king sealed him in.  He was locked in.  But God closed the mouths of the lions.  No harm came to Daniel.  The result is that God protected him.  He was delivered from the lions.  This was a testimony to the King and to the heathen nation.

·      John 20:19-27  -  The disciples were together, and the doors were locked for fear of the Jewish leaders.  They were locked in.  The Lord came into their midst and blessed them with peace and with the Holy Spirit.  Thomas had not been with them.  He doubted their experience, so the same thing happened a second time.  They were locked in again.  The result was that they were blessed with fresh anointing by the Lord as they went out to proclaim the Gospel. 

·      Acts 2  -  A hundred and twenty of the followers of Jesus were in the upper room.  They were locked in.  As they waited, they were filled with the Holy Spirit.  The result was an empowering baptism and commissioning to preach the Gospel.

·      Acts 16:24-33  -  Paul and Silas were in prison with their feet in stocks.  They were locked in.  An earthquake came and set them free.  But they didn't flee.  The result was that many saw God's power, hearts turned to Him, and a new church was planted.

·      Matthew 6:6  -  "When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."  We can make a choice to go into lockdown with the Lord.  The result is intimacy with Him, and an assurance that God will meet us.

With the lockdown around the world that many of us are experiencing, it's often looked upon as being a negative experience.  Many are complaining.  Some are protesting.  And all of us are being impacted in some way.  It may be frustration, loneliness, the grief I wrote about, a feeling of helplessness, fear, anger, insecurity - there's a multitude of feelings being experienced.  All are real, powerful, often overwhelming us.

As I've pondered the Biblical passages above, the clear message that has come through to my heart is that I need to keep my eyes on the Lord in the midst of the lockdown.  All of these situations were marked by an unusual presence of God and by His Spirit being at work.  I need to focus on Him during this time.  I need to give my feelings to Him.  I have come to understand that this season is an invitation to draw close to Him in the midst of an unprecedented time.  I am expecting good things from Him.

This lockdown is a part of human history forever.  I am asking God to make this time part of my spiritual history in ways that only He can.  I pray that for you too!