Each of the devotionals in Interruptions, the book I referenced yesterday written by Jacob Armstrong, concludes with a prayer. Today’s prayer asks God to both interrupt our lives as Jesus did that of the Samaritan woman He met at a well when He stopped to refresh Himself, and to come to us where we are even if it means our lives will be disrupted. From my perspective, I think this prayer written in 2014 by the author is being answered now in 2020. For surely this COVID-19 pandemic that runs rampant around the globe today is both an interrupter and a disrupter of our lives.
Life as we knew it less than a month ago fades daily – schools are closed, shops, stores, entertainment venues shut down, infrastructure that governs how we interact with each other refashioned, borders closed, travel banned, hospitals and nursing homes that care for the vulnerable among us closed to visitors, isolating both staff, residents and patients – the list goes on, as each day brings some new prohibition. All we took for granted as we went about our daily routines, as did the Samaritan woman drawing water at the well, disrupted. In her case by Jesus directly; in ours by the pandemic God has allowed.
This 2020 interruption will hopefully get our attention beyond the hysteria of the moment and bring to light who God is, as the Samaritan woman came to know who Jesus was – someone who knew all about her. This same Jesus, this same God who allows this interruption and disruption of our lives now knows all about us too. He knows the condition of our heart, the sins we cover up as we go about our usual routines. This pandemic has shone a spotlight on who and what we value – on how we treat one another – on our relationship with the God in whom we profess to believe. As we continue to seek tests and treatments to contain the virus, to adjust to conditions unfathomed for most of us here in the United States, may we find our way to a new normalcy; one that turns us to God our heavenly Father and secures our future with Him. This my hope, my prayer.
Love. Joy. Peace.