Dear Alex
You invite thoughts regarding Covid 19. I don't have any great theological insights, although I will make two comments then add a little bit of testimony for you to make of what you will.
As to whether God sends pestilence and plague or merely allows it, I question whether the Biblical writers would have bothered to reckon the difference. If you had asked Jeremiah whether God was sending the Babylonians or simply allowing them to come, would he have seen any significance in the question? Would his answer not have been 'Well, either way, what are you going to do about it?'
Which leads me to my second observation. To me the two big Biblical templates for interrogating overwhelming disaster are the Exile (which we are invited to interpret though the eyes of the OT prophets); and Jesus weeping over the coming fate of Jerusalem (Lk 19:41). What might Jeremiah or Jesus say as they saw Covid coming down the road?
Testimony: I am not very good at praying on my own, it's all a bit ad hoc, hit & miss. But occasionally God comes along and tells me to pray for something specific, and then strange things happen. Sometimes God wakes me in the night to pray. I went through a season when I was woken regularly at two or three in the morning and moved deeply by the Spirit to pray that 'all that can be shaken will be shaken', so I would pray for an hour or two then go back to sleep, or else pray through to morning. After about three years the prayer was changed to 'Lord move by Your Spirit throughout the earth and throughout this generation'. Simple but fervent. Sometimes I would pray for an hour or so, or maybe pray through to morning. That lasted about 18 months. Then Covid came. I leave you to ponder.
I had the impression that any move of the Spirit would impact mainly the younger/Millenial generation, not perhaps be noticed by the existing churches; and I myself might not see it or understand it. All a bit hazy. I leave it with you.
Dear Alex
You invite thoughts regarding Covid 19. I don't have any great theological insights, although I will make two comments then add a little bit of testimony for you to make of what you will.
As to whether God sends pestilence and plague or merely allows it, I question whether the Biblical writers would have bothered to reckon the difference. If you had asked Jeremiah whether God was sending the Babylonians or simply allowing them to come, would he have seen any significance in the question? Would his answer not have been 'Well, either way, what are you going to do about it?'
Which leads me to my second observation. To me the two big Biblical templates for interrogating overwhelming disaster are the Exile (which we are invited to interpret though the eyes of the OT prophets); and Jesus weeping over the coming fate of Jerusalem (Lk 19:41). What might Jeremiah or Jesus say as they saw Covid coming down the road?
Testimony: I am not very good at praying on my own, it's all a bit ad hoc, hit & miss. But occasionally God comes along and tells me to pray for something specific, and then strange things happen. Sometimes God wakes me in the night to pray. I went through a season when I was woken regularly at two or three in the morning and moved deeply by the Spirit to pray that 'all that can be shaken will be shaken', so I would pray for an hour or two then go back to sleep, or else pray through to morning. After about three years the prayer was changed to 'Lord move by Your Spirit throughout the earth and throughout this generation'. Simple but fervent. Sometimes I would pray for an hour or so, or maybe pray through to morning. That lasted about 18 months. Then Covid came. I leave you to ponder.
I had the impression that any move of the Spirit would impact mainly the younger/Millenial generation, not perhaps be noticed by the existing churches; and I myself might not see it or understand it. All a bit hazy. I leave it with you.
Frank