Since the relaxation of the total lock down that occurred in my Country due to the global pandemic called COVID-19 this year 2020, We have being asked to be on face mask to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
Most times when i’m out of my house with face mask, People seems to look at me in a strange way, perharp wondering why i should be on with face mask when the pandemic is not really killing people in my country like other countries of the world. So could say they have faith in God, therefore no need of using face mask, which is contrary to the christian faith, thereby causing another person to disobey the rule, which cause more harm than good.
I totally believe as a good Christian, a follower of Christ, we suppose to be an example to others in all that we do. Having faith in God does not licensed you to carelessness and disobedience when it has to do with adding value to the society.
Now our answer is NO, You will not find a single case in the biblical record of God wanting people to throw responsibility and common sense to the wind in order to demonstrate faith in Him before a watching world.
Yes, you find God calling people to do things that make no sense before a watching world as an act of faith—from making a boat on dry land in preparation for a flood, to walking around a city for seven days blowing horns.
Yet you won’t find a case where someone presumes upon God’s protection independent of God’s promise of protection in a flagrant disregard of the reason and rationality He’s employed them to use.
Do Not Test the Lord
Going further, what you will find are clear admonitions that we are not to take it upon ourselves to test God in ways He has not directly advised. In fact, the phrase “Do not test the Lord” is a common refrain. In the great critique of the sins of Israel in Psalm 78 the phrase “they put God to the test” is mentioned not once, not twice, but three times.
In the Old Testament book of Numbers there is a telling story of the men of Israel wanting to confront the Amalekites and Canaanites in the name of the Lord. Moses warned them against it; the advantage would be their enemy’s, and the Lord had not said He would be with them in their actions. The scriptural description is revealing: “… in their presumption they went up toward the highest point in the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord’s covenant moved from the camp” (Numbers 14:44, NIV).
Consequence/Result?
“Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down…” (Numbers 14:45, NIV).
They presumed God would be with them. God wasn’t. He never said He would be.
And lest we forget when the devil took Jesus to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple saying: “If you are the Son of God… throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone’” (Matthew 4:6, NIV).
If that is not a “faith over fear” moment, I don’t know what is.
Jesus’ reply?
“It is also written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matthew 4:7, NIV).
Foolishness over Wisdom Is Not Faith over Fear
I am a person of passionate faith. I have not once “feared” COVID-19, nor stayed awake at night trembling with anxiety. But I also wear a mask, practice social-distancing, and have led the church I have been entrusted with to engage in online services for the foreseeable future.
Out of fear? No. It has been out of a deep faith that reminds me to not test God, to not presume on God, but to use my very God-given faculties and reason to honor and glorify Him and care for myself, my family and His people.
Just as it is not fear over faith when I put my grandchildren in a car seat, get an annual medical examination, lock my doors at night and turn on my alarm system, wear a seat belt or any one of a thousand other things that add safety and protection and health to my life and the lives of others.
Purposefully choosing to avoid such things—such as using a car seat for your child—is not putting faith over fear. It would be putting foolishness over wisdom. And to do any such thing in the name of God?
You are then doing the one thing He has said you must never do.
Which is to test Him.
May the Lord help us to be a good citizen here on earth and thereby being set to be also that of Heaven.
