By Stan Key
Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and there were gnats on man and beast. All the dust of the earth became gnats in all the land of Egypt. The magicians tried by their secret arts to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” (Exodus 8:17–19)
I grew up in South Georgia and know something about the torment caused by gnats. Oh, my! It’s terrible when those nasty little vermin get in your ears, eyes, mouth, hair, food, and bed. They keep buzzing and you keep swatting—but it’s useless. There is no escape, no place to hide from their annoying presence.
The book of Exodus tells us that the third plague that the Lord God sent on Egypt was an invasion of gnats. Not just thousands of them, as in Georgia, but gazillions! Thick as pea soup and scattered all across the land, it must have been horrific. The Spanish Inquisition could not have devised a more terrible form of torture. Day and night, indoors and outdoors, waking and sleeping, the gnats were everywhere. The pagan magicians in Pharaoh’s palace realized that this calamity was evidence of a deity that was bigger and more powerful than any spiritual presence they had yet encountered. “This is the finger of God,” they concluded.
The gnats bore witness to what his “finger” could do. Imagine what would happen if he used his whole hand! Or his entire arm! These unbelievers had never even noticed when God had displayed his presence through the beauties of creation or the blessings of life. But when he sent the gnats; well, it certainly got their attention.
A plague of gnats is perhaps not the best analogy for trying to understand what God may be up to in the current global pandemic. However, it is a good way to be reminded of the spiritual opportunity contained in the international crisis our world is facing. Like the Egyptians three millennia ago, we find ourselves confronted by a situation that is not only painful but inexplicable. Never in my lifetime have more people been asking more profoundly spiritual questions: How did this happen? What is the meaning of all this? When will it end? Where is God? And perhaps most importantly: Who is behind this? Who is responsible? Who is to blame? Ironically, the pagan magicians in Pharaoh’s palace had no doubt at all about how to answer these questions: This is the finger of God!
I’m weary of hearing pastors and church leaders go to great lengths to offer theological explanations why the coronavirus plague is not caused by God. Their point, of course, is to reassure people that the God of the Christians is not hateful and vindictive, but rather good and loving. I can appreciate that. But often as I listen, it sounds like they are trying to protect God’s reputation, almost as if they are apologizing for the way he is running the world. They give the impression that the God we worship is not really in charge of things on Planet Earth, as if this whole pandemic caught him by surprise and he too is trying to figure out how to respond to the crisis. They create an image in my mind of the throne-room of heaven, where God is wringing his hands lamenting, “Dear me, dear me! What are we going to do?”
I, for one, am holding God fully responsible for what is happening in our world today. But please hear me: I’m not blaming him; I’m holding him responsible. The distinction is important. The God of the Bible is not the author of evil, but he is sovereign. Nothing happens on this planet without first passing through the filters of his permissive will. He is not the cause of evil, but he does permit its presence in our world.
Before Satan could torment Job with affliction, pain, and loss, he had to first get God’s permission (Job 1:6–12; 2:1–6). Satan was the cause of the evil things that happened to Job, but the Lord God is the one who consented that it would be so. Satan was to blame; God was responsible.
I know that in a culture where political correctness tends to dominate the conversation, this kind of talk makes people nervous. We feel the need to protect God’s reputation and say only those things that preserve his identity as a doting parent whose only concern is that we have a nice day. It is time for us to get over our neurotic obsession of trying to make God appear more palatable and get back to the vocabulary of the Bible:
- “Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?” (Amos 3:6).
- “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?” (Lam 3:38).
- “Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth” (Ps 46:8).
- “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isa 45:7).
God is the ultimate cause of the evil and suffering that is in the world. He is sovereign over all, and nothing happens without his permission. But he is not the direct cause. Evil is the work of Satan and his minions.
Perhaps an illustration will help. Suppose I told you that I have a new theory about who is responsible for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001. Suppose I told you that Osama Ben Laden and the group of terrorists who flew those planes are not the real culprits. Rather, the ones truly responsible are Orville and Wilbur Wright! Yes, just think about it. If the Wright Brothers hadn’t invented the airplane and thus created the possibility of flight, the tragedy of 9/11 never would have happened. I like this illustration because we can easily see that the Wright Brothers are, in one sense, responsible, but none of us would blame them for the deed.
When it comes to dealing with the crisis provoked by COVID-19, we need to think clearly. We must be very careful how we use language in describing a tragic event lest we create confusion in the minds of our listeners. The stakes are too high for us to be fuzzy in our thinking or unclear in our vocabulary. When it comes to the current crisis, I simply want to join the Egyptian magicians in affirming the obvious: This is the finger of God. I am not blaming him for the suffering; but I am holding him squarely responsible!
But Why?
But if the Lord God has indeed permitted this global crisis and if he is the one responsible, then the question naturally arises: What are his purposes? Why is he letting this happen to us? What is he seeking to accomplish?
I know no better place to find an answer to questions like these than the verse we often quote when we pray for revival:
…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
We often forget the context of this verse. These beautiful words are spoken by God as a sort of invitation, calling us to turn from our sins and pray for his favor. But the context tells us the kind of circumstances that will provoke the response for which God is looking. While the verse just quoted is well known, few are aware of the verse that precedes it:
When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by name will…. (2 Chronicles 7:13–14)
Did you hear it? God says he sends drought, famine, and pestilence so that people will humble themselves, pray, seek his face, and turn from their sins. That’s the point! Our international crisis is not some random, pointless act of chance. God has a purpose in all this, and it is good! The pestilence of contagious disease is permitted so that we will humble ourselves, cry out in prayer, seek God’s face and repent of our sins. When we do, God stands ready to forgive our sins and heal our land.
This was God’s purpose in Egypt so many years ago when he sent the plague of gnats. The magicians understood; “This is the finger of God.” Unfortunately, Pharaoh’s heart remained hard (see Ex 8:19). His refusal to humble himself and turn from sin meant that he and his nation would experience God’s judgment and wrath.
Albert Camus’ novel The Plague* is one of the classics of existentialist literature. The story is set in a coastal town in North Africa, a walled city named Oran. When plague breaks out, the gates of the city are shut, and the citizens begin to find ways to cope with the tragedy that has befallen them. Camus’ existentialist belief in the absurdity of the human condition means that his book offers no real hope to its readers. The power of the book is found not in its prognosis, but its diagnosis. It paints a powerful picture of the human predicament: we are all locked in a quarantined city, waiting to see who next will catch the plague and die.
Most of the inhabitants of Oran are just annoyed by the plague. Many deny its existence and treat it as a bad dream or an unwelcomed guest. They make minimal adjustments to adapt to the new realities, hoping that the plague will soon just go away and they get back to business as usual, life like it was before. “Alarmed, but far from desperate, they hadn’t yet reached the phase when plague would seem to them the very tissue of their existence” (93).
Though writing as an unbeliever, Camus paints a powerful picture of the human situation. He speaks truth when he reminds us that we should not be so naïve as to think of the plague as an aberration, an interruption, an unwelcome visitor who will soon go away. The plague defines us. It describes the human condition. “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom 6:23). “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27). All of us have already been infected by the sin virus; we all will die. There are no exceptions.
The Good News!
It is only when we fully understand the tragedy of the human condition that we are ready to receive the Good News of the gospel. Yes, the finger of God is moving in our world, confronting us with the reality of sin, death, and hell. This is not some abnormal condition, some unpleasant interruption, that will soon pass away so that we can return to “normal life” as before. This is the human condition. This is what life is all about. The virus of sin defines the very tissue of our existence. “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezek 18:4).
But Jesus Christ has come. And he too has a finger in what is happening on Planet Earth. “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Lk 11:20). Jesus steps into the human condition, exposing himself to the deadly contagion, so that he can touch us with his mighty hand and heal us through his saving grace. He has come to forgive sinners, to heal the broken, to find the lost, and to give hope to those in the grip of despair. “For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them” (Jer 32:42).
Dear friend, are you hurting? Confused? Discouraged? Jesus calls you and invites you to humble yourself and come to him. Let him forgive your sin and bring healing to your troubled soul. He wants to touch you not just with his finger but with his hand—and to embrace you in his arms.
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
*Camus, Albert. The Plague. Trans. Stuart Gilbert. New York: Random House, Vintage International, 1991.