January 19, 2021
"Can you hear me?" the teacher asks me as I start off my semester as a tiny tile on a Zoom screen once more. I give him a thumbs up, but my disheartened smile expresses my disappointment at another semester beginning far from my friends and the ease and comfort of having my books on hand and teachers available to meet in-person instead of through endless e-mail conversations. The situation reminds me once again of how much I need to depend on others—to clear up what the professor said when the connection cut out, to send me pictures of books, and to give me a place to stay when I am not on campus. My friends joke that I'm making a habit of arriving fashionably late or that I know how to make an entrance, but I wish were laughing together instead of through emojis.
I know that those are not big problems compared to a global pandemic and to hundreds of thousands of lives that have been lost. By God's grace, COVID has come close enough to touch me, but not to wound me. I am sure that millions of students are experiencing the same thing I have, and for a longer time than I have. People have lost jobs and lost lives, and that is much bigger than temporary discomfort. Nonetheless, we are in an aching world, and I ache with it. Not just for my own reasons, but for the shared grief and loss that we are experiencing as humanity.
We are called the stewards of creation because we are the only creatures made in God's image, and yet sometimes we are subverted by tiny enemies we can't even see. A microscopic virus can overtake our cells and disrupt our plans or even incapacitate us permanently. It can harm those we love and cause us stress and anxiety. Apart from a virus or bacteria, there are other tiny enemies who exasperate us and make our life more difficult. In the last weeks, I had lice, and had to spend hours in the bathroom combing through my hair and making sure I removed every single insect causing my head to itch as well as every one of their eggs. We had to wash bedding and clothing extra thoroughly to make sure they were really gone.
And even though these fiends could be seen under a microscope or a magnifying glass, respectively, there are some that we simply cannot see. We cannot see the darts that the enemy sends us as we fight it out on the battlefield of our mind. These thoughts that weigh on us and make us belief that we are not victorious are the tiniest enemies that can have enough strength to bring us down if we let them.
That is the key. A virus can be defeated: God has already defeated sin and death and He promises a resurrected body with no suffering and no pain so that we may dwell with Him in Heaven forever. Lice can be defeated, and in the end we can be left with hours of building community. However, our anxious, negative thoughts may be a little harder to defeat. After all, they may seem so reasonable. But they only have the power if you let them in. Now, this is so hard for me, too! I need to keep reminding myself of my identity as a daughter of Christ who is made victorious in Jesus who reigns powerfully over the powers of evil.
This might sound like a bunch of hard-to-understand, super-religious language, but we know that the whole creation groans as in the pains of childbirth, and we groan as we await our adoption as sons and the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:22-23). You don't have to search to see how creation is aching for the revealing of the children of God. Wars and famines ravage lands, animals are going extinct, and trash keeps piling up in oceans and rivers, disease kills and injures people. We have not been good stewards since the beginning of time. So Earth sighs, and waits for our identity to be revealed, so that we can be transformed. Our identity is so powerful! They can transform our midset, our beliefs, and our actions towards ourselves and the world around us.
So as fearful thoughts invade our daily experiences, let them be a reminder of how the world, and how your own spirit, groan for Jesus to come again and for God to bestow our new, improved identities on us. While that time arrives
, live out your identity as a child of God, as an agent for His kingdom, and an ambassador of Heaven. Continue to fight the battle in your mind by taking every thought captive to the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Nevertheless, even as you suffer and wonder where God is in the middle of difficult situations where enemies—both big and small—are threatening you and your loved ones, I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. I understand that it is not easy to continually live in victory and identity. I certainly still struggle with it. Let me, and let your community walk beside you in love and encouragement. Please do not give the darkness victory by keeping it to yourself!
I pray that the Lord will give you strength to keep on persevering in the midst of difficult times. May He renew your spirit and build up a community around you that will pray for you and encourage you in the way you need it. May you continually remember that the Lord has given you power.
I encourage you to pray, to rise up and not let anxiety, stress, or negative thoughts prevent you from interceding in prayer for our world: for people to know Jesus and experience revival, for our leaders to make decisions that honor God, and for a new generation of Christlike men and women to transform our world. Please don't forget about so many people who care for you and want to remind you of the power of your identity in defeating our tiny enemies. I love you!
Yours truly,
Isa