Pandemic Pause

Lockdown

Lockdown has thrown the world into a silent pause. Thomas Lecocq, a seismologist at the Royal Observatory of Belgium, stated the volume of the earth’s noises dropped significantly once the lockdowns started. He said it was a unique time in history because now they could study seismic events that they could not in the past. It was like the world implemented a white noise filter.

Trains and buses and factories shut down, people stopped commuting to work, and concerts, sporting events were canceled. Airplane traffic dived as destinations closed. The world went silent.

This pandemic pause created a unique opportunity for all of us. Like many opportunities, it can have a good side and a bad side. The good is a chance to pause and reassess; it is an opportunity to improve and move forward. The bad is that we may have time to look too deeply at ourselves and not like what we find. We may dwell too long in the awkwardness of it.

Listening to the Silence

It took me a while to adjust to the new normal. I usually wake a 4 a.m.; I’m at work by 5. The early quiet in the office allows me to get the bureaucratic tasks under control before the hum of the day starts. It starts to crescendo by nine, and then it is off to the races. Now, well, it is different. The crescendo never arrives; there is just a constant hum. So, I sleep later and work later. I have trouble knowing what day it is. If I need to take a break mid-day, I do. If I think of something in the middle of the night, I get up and do it. I now run on a 24-hour clock. It is decidedly more peaceful, less stressful, less urgent.

But it is filled with silence, at times, mind-numbing, deafening silence.

It took a while to learn to fill that awkward silence in my head with something meaningful. I had to shut off the random thoughts freely flowing through my brain. It was like listening to a crowd of madmen spouting anything and everything. I needed a new order for my thoughts. I had to set goals and channel my thoughts to achieve them.

Hearing the Music

What brought me back to moving in the right direction was scripture; It has great stories that entertain, it has beautiful poetry and sound advice. When I get stuck in a cul-de-sac of lousy thinking, there is always a verse that pulls me back.  

When I’m thinking along the wrong lines, I go directly to:

Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about these things.”

I’ve gone there so many times I know it from memory.

When I start to think about my inadequacies, I think of:

Moses– He was a murderer, and his people rejected him:

Exodus 2:4, “The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?”

But in the end, God spoke to him face-to-face as a man speaks to a friend:

Exodus 33:11 , “Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.”

David – The Bathsheba ordeal is mind-boggling:

2 Samuel 12: 7-9 ,”This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down, Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.”

And still, God thought of David as a man after His own heart:

Acts 13:22 ,”And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

There are more; this is just the start. There are great passages that tell stories about great people, all of them flawed, all of them a lesson in Character.

When I start to feel down, or I just need a lift me up:

Romans 8:38-39 ,”For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Matthew 6:25-27, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged; for the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Psalms 18:28, “My God turns my darkness into light.”

Isaiah 40:31, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Silence is when God speaks. He won’t compete for your attention unless it is absolutely necessary. God will wait for us to calm down, relax, and start to listen. It is there that He speaks to our hearts.