Why would God allow Covid-19?

Response

“Why would God allow Covid-19?” This question is being asked worldwide, which in itself provides a significant part of the answer. More on that will be explained shortly.

COVID-19, or coronavirus disease 2019, is a respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The impact of the illness can vary from mild to severe. It was first identified in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, and then rapidly spread to other countries. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

Only a liar or a true prophet could assert knowing God’s reasons for allowing COVID-19 or any specific calamity. This is partly because God’s purpose encompasses every individual involved, from the beginning of time to the end of the world. Understanding all potential factors surpasses human capability, yet God holds complete knowledge and control over every aspect of every situation (Romans 8:28-30). The Bible provides some insights into God’s utilization of deadly disasters in general, but we must apply relevant Scripture and faith principles to gain wisdom regarding any particular disaster.

Like any mystery, solving it requires moving from the known to the unknown in our quest. Therefore, we will place the inquiry of why God would permit COVID-19 within the context of what we already understand from the Bible and personal experience: we acknowledge that life is a gift from the Creator (Isaiah 42:5;Acts 17:25). We recognize that God alone possesses the right and authority to grant life and take it away according to His own wisdom and plans «But he said u

Into her, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10). We know that life is short and includes some degree of suffering, ending in death and judgment for how we lived our lives—only one life with no “do-overs” “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”, (Hebrews 9:27). Short or long, our lifespan and date of death are set and controlled by God “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.”, (Matthew 10:29). Even the longest human lives are “like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow” “Man is like to vanity: His days are as a shadow that passeth away.”, (Psalm 144:4).

Moses described God’s sovereignty over life and death, and this could have been written about today’s COVID-19 pandemic:

“You turn people back to dust,

saying, ‘Return to dust, you mortals.’

A thousand years in your sight

are like a day that has just gone by,

or like a watch in the night.

Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—

they are like the new grass of the morning:

In the morning it springs up new,

but by evening it is dry and withered”

(Psalm 90:3-6).

So what is God’s purpose in allowing COVID-19? Without being too dogmatic, we know that, generally speaking, one of God’s purposes in trials is to get the world’s attention off themselves and onto Him, their Creator.

Creator and Savior— which is the significant part of the answer to the question at hand. “Why would God allow COVID-19?” Millions are suddenly asking that question right now, believers and non-believers alike, which indicates that God is on their minds. God desires for all people to earnestly seek Him and find Him, realizing that He is actually close to us (Jeremiah 29:13; Acts 17:26-28). God wants us to recognize our own weakness and neediness so that we place our trust in Him: “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). God desires people to fear Him with proper reverence and awe: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10); to love Him more than their own lives (Matthew 10:37; John 12:25); and to demonstrate love and gratitude for the Savior by loving and assisting fellow humans, especially the suffering (Romans 15:1; James 2:14-17). God aims to redirect our focus and affection away from this temporary, troubled world to our eternal, heavenly home (Colossians 3:1-2; Hebrews 12:1-2).

Times of trouble serve as a primary motivation for us to accumulate treasures in heaven rather than cling to treasures on earth (Matthew 6:19-20; Colossians 3:1-3).

1-3), and to be good stewards of those blessings God gives us in this life (Luke 16:11; Matthew 25:14-30). God wants us to trust Him absolutely, knowing that our times are in His hand «My times are in thy hand: Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.», (Psalm 31:15).

Ultimately, it is the poor and hurting who seek God, not the rich and comfortable. It is danger and calamity that turn men to their Savior, not health and wealth (see Mark 2:17). It is suffering that wakes us to our true need. C. S. Lewis put it this way: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” (The Problem of Pain, HarperCollins, 1996, p. 91).

Life for all people means facing suffering, death, and their eternal destiny. Even if we develop immunity to COVID-19, we can’t escape the fact of trouble in the world. What’s best for us in any situation is to seek God: “Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart” «Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, And that seek him with the whole heart.», (Psalm 119:2)..