COVIDevotional: Looking for God on the Bumpy Road

This experience with the coronavirus has been a deep dive into facing unknowns and what-ifs. The sheer volume and discrepancy of information makes it challenging to know the best way forward. And, in a place as big as the United States, there are so many variables at play that it can’t be uniform, won’t be pretty, and is probably going to feel really uncomfortable sometimes.

But, here’s our truth for today: Just because a journey is difficult doesn’t mean God isn’t in it — or maybe even directing it.

I spent a little time recently thinking about two of the more famous journeys God’s people have ever been on. The first is the Israelites getting out of Egypt. Those poor people. They knew freedom was coming, but they spent months wondering when it was going to happen and what it was going to look like. And then, once it happened, they were critical of how it was happening, worried they would run out of food and complained about their circumstances. Any of this sounding familiar?

Fast-forward about thirteen centuries and we get to witness another journey that was more than a little inconvenient and uncomfortable. Mary, heavily pregnant with Jesus, has to leave her home and journey to Bethlehem for a census. Governmental decisions affected her plans, her housing, and her medical care. Yes, I feel like I’ve seen this somewhere lately too.

Here’s the deal. I know this process is hard. However, if we are continually finding ourselves critical and irritated at every frustration and confusion we may have bought into a modern lie of convenience — and forgotten the truth that sometimes God gets us to freedom and safety via bumpy roads.

Remember, just because something looks messy to us doesn’t mean it looks messy to God. It is essential that we leave room in our spirit for the uncomfortable, inconvenient or confusing so that we may inquire of God in it. If, in His infinite wisdom, He hauled thousands of Hebrews out of Egypt in the middle of the night or asked a pregnant lady to ride a donkey to a barn to give birth, I think we can count on the idea that at least some of the challenging things we experience during COVID-19 may have His fingerprints on it.

Just as we can look back on these two incredible stories and see how God was at work, a time will come when we will be able see how He is at work now. Remember, God is present when the road is smooth, but He is also present when it’s not. Leave room in your faith to keep looking for Him, remembering that sometimes, it is the bumpy roads that lead to the most incredible ends.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash