After NOT writing about COVID for many months, I woke up this morning thinking it was time for a reminder of how the pandemic—re-energized by its new Omicron variant–represents the kind of threat that can disrupt or derail our commitment to develop SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE.
We should NOT be surprised that the COVID nightmare keeps playing in our mind’s theater. THAT’S LIFE! If it’s not COVID, it’s our health, or our finances, or our relationships, or our emotional stability, or that one specific thing YOU struggle with in your life.
We are all constantly dive-bombed by burdens buzzing around every part of our life. A new twist seems to pop up on our life’s screen every day. That’s why the new Omicron variant of COVID should not be a surprise.
While trying to “survive” this pounding and relentless attack, we can easily lose sight of how God wants us to react to the BURDENS it produces: He wants us to take every burden and TRANSFER it to HIM.
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
God’s direction is clear. We must consciously and intentionally transfer our burdens to him and not just pray for them to “go away.”
Not one of our burdens—OMICRON or otherwise—is too heavy for the God who endured Calvary so we could live without the chains of darkness choking our fragile neck.
God is using our COVID BURDEN as a daily “Faith Tester” with one goal: Trust him to give us strength and hope by transferring the burden from us to him.
Our COVID prayers should be about TRANSFER—for God to take the burden for us as he did on the Cross.
Once we transfer the BURDENS to God, we are ready to receive the BLESSINGS he has in store for us during the trial—COVID and/or all the other challenges in life on earth.
The road to being blessed by God during a crisis runs straight through the town of CONTENTMENT. Counting blessings over burdens, in the end, will make us more content and less stressful under the attack (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
That is why I count my blessings and subordinate my burdens, especially during this new COVID test of our faith.
I ask God to help me use this new “pandemic pause” to give me the strength to transfer my current burdens to him with full confidence and trust in his power and provision.
“Leave your troubles with the Lord, and he will defend you; he never lets honest people be defeated.” Psalm 55:22
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Have you transferred your new COVID burdens to God or are you only praying that they be lifted?
“This is what the Lord says to you: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” 2 Chronicles 20:15
