Balance. One of the many definitions of the word “balance” is “a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.” It’s that sense of the word that came to mind this morning. A prayer line petitioner asked that we pray for a nephew who tested positive for the coronavirus and is hospitalized. At about the same time, I received a text message from a friend whose daughter’s test for the virus came back negative. The two scenarios prompted thought about this pandemic ravaging our nation and the world. I believe our perspective might be better served if we remember that not everyone tests positive; that if we combine the number of those who test negative with the number of those who are being cured and released from hospitals, we might see the glimmer of a rainbow, instead of an unending dark cloud.
To some that might seem naïve. But when I consider that we serve a God who employed “balance” in the creation of the world and in everything else He touched and touches still, I conclude that balance is germane to our existence and offer as my proof those timeless words of Ecclesiastes:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them together, a time to embrace and a time refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to give away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.“
There is balance in each of these assertions, just as there is balance now. The God who authored the concept of balance is not absent during this pandemic. As He wills (as is HIs right to do), the COVID-19 balance beam will right itself. The balance in the aftermath will reveal sorrow and joy, defeat and victory. As we rejoice in the one and weep in the other, may we never forget that in it all reigns a sovereign God. A God of balance. A God of love.
Love. Joy. Peace.