“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) As the child of God, we are able to face life’s biggest challenges because of this promise in the Bible, and yet, to face them with full confidence and peace.  This verse taught us that, whatever that happens to Christians, is the wonderful plan by God, for whoever that loves God, which are Christians, can benefit from it.  

The word “all things” that was mentioned in the verse refers to suffering, especially the persecution that comes with our belief.  Suffering for Christians brought about positive effects.  Although COVID was not considered persecution due to our faith, the pandemic for the past 3 years did taught us precious lessons. It showed us our limitations as human, warned us for being so full of ourselves, and to humble ourselves in the face of our maker.  It also allowed us opportunities to practice our dependence on God.  When life I smooth sailing, we would not feel the need for God, and suffering would break these façade away.  During the beginning of the pandemic when all things come to a halt, many had time to regroup their thoughts and think of their direction in life.  They searched for life’s meaning, and thus found God.  The pandemic drilled us in our love for others, when we see someone in dire need, do we want to step out of our comfort zone to show care and love, to take care of the ones who fall sick, do we show compassion in accepting those affect during these times and lend a helping hand?

Now as we walked out of COVID, we must bear in mind the lessons we had learned for the past 3 years, even as we stride forward with confidence. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)  We must utilise what we had learned from our challenges, the grace we received from God, to help and encourage those that are in need. Do not let the lessons and experiences that we learnt and went through goes to waste.  We must bear in mind, that not all were able to walk out of this pandemic unscathed like us.  Some may still be in the process of going through treatment, or even learning to stand up from the situation.  May we have compassion on people, just as God showed us compassion and blessed us when we were in need.

We would not know when the next pandemic would strike globally, and were not able to be prepared for the unknown.  What we could do instead is to train and armed ourselves spiritually in times of peace, just as the Singapore government had been rigorously building up our country’s reserve over the past decades, when the country is faced with the pandemic crisis, our government is able to mobilise hundreds of millions of dollars in such a short span of time, to help its citizens and enterprises to sail through the crisis.  In the same way, when crisis comes, we can lean on God to have peace.