COVID-19 And The God Factor

COVID-19: FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS.

The alarming rate at which the deadly coronavirus is virtually eating up all aspects of social life on earth is compelling all to reconsider what really matters in our relations with each other and with our Creator.

Health systems and facilities in even the most advanced countries are being tested as never before in living memory, the global economy and financial markets are seeing grave dips, while international aviation, tourism, sports and all other events that involve physical human congregation and interaction are experiencing a near-total shutdown.  Schools from basic to tertiary levels all across the world are being closed or have been closed for indefinite periods, social rites of passage such as weddings, funerals and even burials have been severely restricted or cancelled altogether. And for the first time in decades if not centuries, religious activities as normal as church services, gathering of Islamic faithful or other liturgical celebrations have been cancelled outright or limited to congregations of a few dozen people.

The annual Islamic pilgrimage, or Hajj, is also in danger of being cancelled.  This is a global crisis that has left even the advanced scientific, medical and information technology systems of global superpowers confused. But only a couple of months ago, our world leaders in politics, arms and ammunition, science and technology and global trade and economics seemed to be in charge of a world system that worked like a well-oiled machine, even with inherent flaws in our global geopolitical and socio-moral engagements. And now this.

No one can tell or predict, with even global systems that have worked reliably over the years, how and when this Covid-19 pandemic will slow down or be completely eradicated. A couple of decades ago, an inspired father reportedly comforted his exposed son and envisaged that an entity all-powerful or even very insignificant may arise one day and render as museum pieces, all the sophisticated weaponry and war machinery with which the superpowers were then flexing their might and power over the weaker nations, at the height of the Cold War.

Now, with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging rich and poor, aged or young, Christian, Muslim, Jew or traditionalist alike, in a G8 country like Italy, in China, the world’s second-largest economy and even the United States, the most powerful nation on earth, it appears what many have lived and worked for or put their trust in as global standards or status symbols are being rendered of no significance.

It, indeed, seems that all what most of us consider as security for our lives have been brought into sharp question. As someone put it, the functions of the world are being reset to immediate post-Creation settings when God’s children were very close to Him. Both Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, immediate past General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana and Sheikh Aremeyaw Shaibu, spokesperson of the National Chief Imam, have in separate radio interviews, affirmed that this global health crisis, is nothing but God showing the world who is really in charge.

As medical researchers, political leaders and government finance, health and relief institutions work hand-in-hand with each individual across the globe to observe logistical, social distancing and other preventive and containment measures, and as we care for the infected and mourn the dead, may the public health and personal hygiene lessons learnt combine with the ageless spiritual wisdom of the Bible as expressed by King Solomon who declared in Ecclesiastes 12:13, to wit “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” So that when we are done with this noisome pestilence, as Psalm 91 would call this Covid-19 pandemic, the end will only be to the greater glory of our Omnipotent God.

BY RAYMOND TUVI AN AUTHOR AND MEDIA CONSULTANT.