God Reveal Your Presence

this past week, i was reminded of how covid continues to cause problems.  three close relatives--a father, his wife, and their middle-aged son who lives with them--were all infected.  the two parents are in their late seventies, and both suffer from breathing problems.  fortunately, all three began taking oral anti-virals that their doctors prescribed for them immediately after testing positive.  the mother, who was the first to exhibit symptoms, was better by the day after she began taking the medication.  

what struck me was the difference in the reactions my wife and i had to the effects of the medicine compared to the reaction of our relative's daughter.  the daughter attributed her mother's quick improvement to the prayers she had been offering on her mother's behalf.  for her, God's intervention in her mother's illness was responsible.  for my wife and i, the credit belonged to the medication and those who developed it and prescribed it, as well as our relative's wisdom in seeking medical help immediately.  as i thought about the daughter's response to her mother's improvement, i wondered why she thought her mother caught the virus in the first place.  if the improvement in her mother's condition was an answer to prayer, why didn't the god who caused the improvement simply prevent her from catching covid in the first place?  why were her prayers effective, while the prayers of some others whose loved ones died from covid despite their earnest prayers were not?  better yet, why did that god allow covid to come into existence and cause so much suffering?

i was disturbed that a college-educated young woman would attribute the difficult work of understanding this virus, developing vaccines against it, and treatments for it to a supernatural being rather than giving credit to the scientists and physicians who have worked so diligently to alleviate the suffering covid causes.  this same woman refused to take the vaccines, nor did she encourage her minor children to get vaccinated, even after her husband had a serious covid infection early in the pandemic.  surprisingly, the husband took the vaccine after he recovered, though none of the rest of his family was ever vaccinated.

such refusal to recognize the value of human beings in combating the ills that arise in the natural world while placing one's complete faith in the supernatural is a great puzzle to me.  i cannot place my faith in a god who allows such suffering nor give that god credit when the suffering is alleviated.  we must take responsibility for our own lives and work to make the world a better place.  this is what the God i believe in created us to do.  there may be an element of faith in God and gratitude to God when new discoveries are made or when illnesses are healed, but that faith and gratitude arise because we do the necessary work ourselves, not because God does it for us.

may we be grateful to those who labor on our behalf.  may we use our minds to make life better for ourselves and others.  may we not place our faith in prayers but rather in the scientists and healthcare providers who treat our ills.  may we believe in a God who is present for us all the time--before, during, and after our travails--if we believe in a God at all.  shalom.