It's count-down to another new year. Whereas it used to be all about new year resolutions, today's news about the coming 2021 is all about a little vicious virus that has wrecked havoc all over the world, across nations rich and poor, not sparing race, age, sex or social standing. Everybody knows life is never going to be the same again. We will have to learn to live with masks, SOPs, lock-downs, and whatever aftermath that covid19 brings about. As the new year rolls around, most of humanity places its hope on a magic vaccine that's being or soon to be rolled out in nations, despite the fact that science already acknowledges it's not a miracle cure, and no expert can predict its long-term effects.
Such is the fragility of hope in man. Everybody naturally looks forward to a better tomorrow. But "better" is a matter of perspective. Is it better to allow access to my personal data through all sorts of digital apps, knowing that it can end up being misused in the wrong hands? Or being injected with a man-made vaccine, not knowing what that injection can do to my body 5 years down the line? And does it mean, if I buck the trend and decide not to follow the crowd, so to speak, is my tomorrow less "better"? Am I being "socially irresponsible" in choosing the road that's less crowded or less travelled?
I am not being a doomsday prophet but a lot of people are going to be disappointed if they think covid19 is ever going to go away with a shot in the arm. In fact if we believe WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, things will not get better. He said on the first International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on 27/12/20: "The coronavirus crisis will not be the last pandemic, and attempts to improve human health are "doomed" without tackling climate change and animal welfare." Apparently way back in September 2019 , the first annual report on world readiness for health emergencies – published a few months before coronavirus broke out – said the planet was woefully unprepared for potentially devastating pandemics. So the warning is already on the wall, as he puts it, "History tells us that this will not be the last pandemic, and epidemics are a fact of life." How's that for realism and truth?
We are all entitled to our own opinions of course. I, for one, just don't want to tie my life down to bemoaning and jumping like a yo-yo, following the day's tally of covid19 cases reported. I don't need to join the ever-active keyboard warriors in castigating the government, politicians, or ordinary "disobedient" citizens who go around gallivanting across borders to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine with friends or family. I just do what I should and can do in my own personal capacity, and move on with life.
In fact even without covid19, things were already bad for the world. As early as April 2020, David Beasley, head of UN World Food Programme through his Rome-based organization which won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize highlighted to the UN Security Council that the world was facing a "hunger pandemic" and "multiple famines of biblical proportions." On 28/12/20, in a news report 8 months down the line, his update: "Even before covid19 hit, 135 million people were marching towards the brink of starvation. This could double to 270 million within a few short months." Chief scientist of UN FAO Ismahane Elouafi is reported to have said that more than 50 million people in East and Central Africa already require emergency food aid and those numbers are set to rise. For the record as of today, covid19 cases in the world stand at about 82 million , with 1.8 million deaths, and 58 million recovered. That translates into 3% death and 97% recovery rate.
Actually it's most interesting a UN agency would refer to "famines of biblical proportions." Indeed whatever is happening in the world was already foretold more than 2000 years ago in the Holy Bible, by Jesus Himself. Of course it's debatable which period He is talking about when He states "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven." (Luke 21:10-11). Never in human history has all of these calamities happened all at once all over the world.
So whether it's from human experts or God, it looks like tomorrow will not exactly get better, if we are talking about an easier or safer life on earth. But on the other hand, if we look at it from another perspective, there's always a better tomorrow. After all, if I know for a fact that my life is held safe in the hands of my Creator, it's He who decides when to end my days on earth, not a virus, an accident, a sickness or whatever else that can hit . For those who choose to believe that Jesus Christ came 2020 years ago, lived, died and rose again, there is no fear of anything already. I have chosen to believe and trust in something bigger than what mere man can offer - a divine hope based on what only God can give - abundant life on earth and eternal life thereafter. For sure it's not going to be ride-in-the-park with no problems in the here and now, but at the very least, it's a life truly free of all fear.
There is nothing to fear what God says will come to pass anyway. He knows what He is doing, even if I don't. My late husband used to tell me not to ask so many questions. He said everything in life should be on a "need-to-know" basis. There were things in his life he refused to tell me, because he deemed it not necessary for me to know. I think it saved me a lot of heartaches and headaches that way. I guess that's how God sees it too. I know things look bad, and will get worse. I don't know how or when God will do what only He can do. But throughout my 20+ years relationship with a living God, He has always worked all (especially bad) things out for good. That's what He promised in His Word, and that's what He will do, without fail, because of who He is - a faithful and good Father in heaven.
So yes, I can see a better tomorrow, because my God is already ahead of me, in it.
"For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience"..Rom 8:24-25
No comments:
Post a Comment