As we draw close to the end of this year, one thing we can say is that “2020 was not what anyone expected!” It has been a horrendous year for many amid the virus-and-fear pandemic and the subsequent economic difficulties.
We also know that despite vaccines showing up in our areas, 2020 will still have a strong hold on the new year. I saw a notice from one of our health districts outlining the distribution of the vaccines and announcing that “masks will still be required well into the summer of 2021.” Well, that is a pleasant thought.
Our nation is also divided on the handling of this virus-and-fear pandemic. We are mad at the politicians that tell us to do one thing and then do the total opposite. We are dismayed by the various and often differing opinions of science. We are distrustful of the media which seems to twist facts until they are unrecognizable.
In 2 Kings 4:8-37 we find the story of Elisha and the Shunammite woman. Through Elisha God granted this barren woman a son, but then the day came when her son suffered what appears to be a heat stroke and died. The Shunammite woman asks her husband to allow her to go to Elisha. When the husband asks why, her reply is “It is well.” When she reaches Elisha, he also questions her about the reason for her visit and her reply is the same, “It is well.” [v23, 26b NKJV]
We know the end of the story—that Elisha returned with her to her home and she received the greatest of all miracles when her dead son was brought back to life.
No matter what 2020 has brought into our lives, because of our relationship with Christ Jesus our Savior and LORD, we, like the Shunammite woman, can claim, “It is well.”
Below is a link to that wonderful song, “It is Well with My Soul,” sung by Wintley Phipps. He prefaces the song with an amazing word from God that we can take to heart in 2020 AND in 2021.
“It is in the quiet crucible of your personal, private sufferings, that your noblest dreams are born, and God’s greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you’ve been through.”
(773) Wintley Phipps – It Is Well With My Soul [Live] – YouTube
