Renewing the face of the earth

I live in one of the most polluted cities in Asia; but today (still in lockdown) I sit under a cloudless sky with the sun on my face and the only air traffic is a majestic bird of prey (an escapee from the zoo next door) which is encircling our house. Earlier I read this verse from Habakkuk 1:5 “Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told” 

Many atheists in the world are rather alarmed as the structures they trust in, start to break down as a result of the corona virus. 

A similar plague occurred during the cultural revolution in China, centered around a labour camp which housed political prisoners including many Christian evangelists. One evangelist named, Miao Zizhong from Zhejiang had a particularly spectacular rescue from the virus. It killed more than a thousand of the 1300 prisoners in a few days and once he caught it he was examined by the camp doctor and sent to a side room which was filled with corpses awaiting burial in a pit that was still being dug. 

He fell to his knees and prayed for healing. At this point an angel appeared to him and transported him to a dazzlingly white room where the angel breathed into his lungs and he immediately felt relieved and was then returned to the side room. He exited and returned to the doctor who was terrified and thought he was a ghost! No one recovered from this disease. Miao testified that his prayer had been answered and God had healed him. The doctor fell to his knees, saying “your God is true, Jesus is alive, I now believe and ask Jesus to receive me”. 

The current state of flux we find ourselves in, reminds me of a quote from the ‘Vicar of Baghdad,’ an Anglican priest stationed there who said “we only knew that Jesus was all we needed, when he was all we had left”. 

Whatever the circumstances that surround the inception and spread of this latest virus it does present a great opportunity for a change of mindset in how we live generally and in particular, it’s an invitation to return to God... 

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 chronicles 7:14)