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| Photo by Jorge Vasconez on Unsplash |
Introduction
The new normal – that’s a hopeful phrase that has been bouncing around lately. At least, I think it is hopeful! During this global pandemic, the citizens of this planet have been experiencing lockdowns, quarantine, and isolation like never before. We have been kept away from family, friends, schools, places of worship, offices, markets, marriage halls, picnic spots, and other social gathering places. Scientists are working hard to find a vaccine for Covid-19. Hundreds upon hundreds have died. After the present troubles, there will be changes. We have already been changed. I will not prophesy how big these changes will be. But I suspect that the effects will not be normal until it becomes normal. Then something new will come and challenge the status quo.
New Normals are Common
The generation that
entered Egypt under Joseph and Israel were free. They had to adjust to their
new normal in Egypt. Then the Bible reports that the children of Israel had
suddenly become slaves to the Pharaoh in Egypt. It seemed that almost overnight
a people and a generation had become slaves. They had to accept their new situation.
Their slavery lasted hundreds of years.
Called by God, Moses
led the Israelites away from slavery in Egypt. That generation had to adjust to
their newfound freedom. Laws came and nationhood developed. Then kings came –
some were good but most were bad. Prophets were there to point their way back
to God whenever they were misguided. Then came the generations that lost their
lands to the Assyrians and the Babylonians. They were exiled for a while. Under
the Persians, they got back to rebuilding the walls and the temple at Jerusalem.
Then the powers changed and the Romans came on the scene eventually. They
seemed to have lost everything again in 70 A.D. The people of Israel had to adjust
and readjust; until something else came to challenge the comfort or discomfort that
they have been used to.
History tells us of people
who have faced varying degrees of atrocities committed upon them; and how they
adjusted, survived, and are still with us. Let us continue with the story of the
Israelites who we now know as Jews. The infamous Third Reich wanted them dead. They
had to adjust to the concentration camps. They were gassed, they were
experimented upon, they were humiliated, they were killed. Many lost their
faith in YHWH, some held on to it. Some ran. Some hid. Some willingly opposed.
They all adjusted in their own way. Then freedom came when the war ended. Their
world was almost over but the children of Israel are still among us.
New normals are too common. When the British
took over the Indian sub-continent – Indians had to adjust and survive. There
were those who resisted, fought, and died. When India got independence we had to
make it shine. When the World Wars ceased – the winners and the losers had to
reformulate. When our marangbah
passed away – we were distressed. When my father went, we had to adjust to
his absence. When my sister-in-law passed away – I cried on my way to the
house. But we have to brave on. Not just sadness, but also other experiences in
life bring about changes that we need to account for. Marriage, the birth of a
child, new job, new home, new neighbours, etc. All by God's grace.
What to learn?
I don’t think that
the current global pandemic is something similar to slavery, or being conquered
or exiled. Although China seems to be involved in land grabbing at Ladakh from
India’s territories. Covid-19 is a respiratory disease; and the WHO had given
warnings years ago that such a disease will start from such types of unregulated/deregulated
wet markets. I am not yet fully convinced that it is a judgment of God upon
sinful humanity. In God’s time, we will know everything, or we may not need to
know. Right now, I am sure that this was something that was waiting to happen
because we live in a fallen and corrupted world. The Chinese Communist Party is
corrupted, the Western powers are corrupted, and our own governments are not such
good examples either. And we, regular people, we lie, cheat, manipulate, and
justify to save our faces. I am the chief of these sinners. And we already know
all of this. Yet, we must learn our lessons.
To restate - the
above paragraphs serve to tell us that humans are sinners, that our sins have
consequences, that we hurt each other, that we have ingenious reasons to do so,
and also that we have equally unique ways of justifying ourselves. Those who
have power and knowledge abuse them. Those who are responsible fight the abuse
and the abusive. Those who are weak just want to breathe and, by God’s grace, we
all adjust and survive. We are all condemned, but for the grace of God. And the
goodness that we experience in life are all by God’s grace.
The lessons to learn
are that of grace and repentance. They too are not new, but they are needed. And
they are deeply connected to each other. By God’s grace humanity will survive
this pandemic. We will adjust to the new normal that covid-19 has brought upon
us. To ignore this season of grace and repentance is to waste away like a pile
of garbage. God is patient, His grace is amazing. It is time for us to grow up.
Let us not cheapen grace by anything less than repentance. There is a call upon
us to look hard at ourselves. Adam sinned, and we sin. Jesus redeemed us on the
cross by God’s saving grace. May we repent from our sins. This season is a season
of admitting our sins, to own up to our pride. And repentance must bring transformation.
We must cultivate the fruits of repentance.
The last new normal will
be brought about after God’s day of judgment and glory. We are waiting of this
day. It’s been only 2000 years since the time of Jesus. On that day justice
will flow like water. On that day glory will be known. Our grand reasons for
sinning and hurting people will be extremely pointless. Our pride and our own
justifications will not matter at all. What matters now will be of no use then.
And our tears will be forever wiped away. There will be no prediction from my
side about the dates. There is only encouragement to prepare for it. May we be
confronted by God’s grace and may we repent. The redeemed of God will be at His
side. The unredeemed will not be at His side. Many of us will survive this
global pandemic. We will be there after all of this is over. But will we
survive God’s justice and glory?
Conclusion
New normals come and go. We learn many
lessons from Scripture about them. The main lessons are God’s grace and our
response to it by repentance. History is littered with examples of survivors.
Let history also testify of God’s grace and of our repentance. The last new
normal – that’s the one we must look forward to. God gives freedom now, and at
that time we will truly know that He reigns until the very last.
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