Dr Paul Allen

God is constantly working in a million ways at all times. He is constantly at work in the world and in the hearts and lives of believers in so many ways that we will never know. Obviously, it is impossible to know fully the mind of God, but it is clear that God is Sovereign over every single event in history, including the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus.   Many liberal Christians have come out strong in their opposition against God having anything to do with the sending of the Coronavirus, rejecting a God who is involved with the affairs of the world.  But the fact of the matter is that God is the ultimate cause for everything that happens on earth, so, it is important for believers to think through what exactly God is doing through this pandemic.  John, in 1 John 5:14, writes about an important truth we can hope in as believers. That is if we pray according to God’s will that He hears us. In other words, God doesn’t listen to prayers that aren’t according to Hi

Thankfully, we are able to develop means of alleviating human suffering. Our nations are putting vast resources into trying to find an antidote to the virus. That is altogether appropriate and Christ-like because He sought to alleviate suffering. We also know that He didn’t alleviate everybody’s suffering. There is a complexity to the way in which God works that is beyond us, but it is appropriate that we make use of means to alleviate suffering instead of just saying, “God sent and God will get rid of it.” We don’t respond to anything in our lives with that kind of foolish simplicity. The second thing to say, from a biblical point of view, is that all suffering we experience exposes: (1) our frailty, (2) our need of God, (3) the sinfulness of our human condition, and (4) our need for repentance. Think, for example, of what Jesus says in Luke 13 when people come and say: “What about these people that Pilate slaughtered? Were they worse than others? What about those on