On Faith and the Coronavirus

March 13, 2020 | By Serena Puang, DC ‘22. Serena is majoring in Linguistics.

As more schools are moving online, my friends who went out of state for college are coming back one by one, and this is probably the only time we’ll all be together again. I can’t help but think that this isn’t just a coincidence. 

You don’t need another coronavirus article. That wasn’t true the first time I sat down to write this. Back then, in January, coronavirus was still a distant phenomenon. It was something that was happening an ocean away in China. My dad was visiting his family in Malaysia at the time, and when he came back, members of our church asked my family to quarantine themselves in case he was exposed to something at the airport. It felt almost crazy at the time, but out of love, they did. 

As a nurse, my mom has followed coronavirus news even before it saturated the media. She lamented the lack of precautions her hospital was taking against possible infection, sifted through fake news, and each time we talked, she provided me with snapshots of the situation in Asia which she collected from friends and friends of friends. Over the last few months, I’ve watched as those snapshots became stories in major news outlets. And those precautions and preventative measures that felt a world away, are now on our doorstep.

Just a week ago, we were all on campus, and now, we won’t be returning until at least April 5th. This looks different for everyone. Personally, I’m fortunate enough to be home in an area where there aren’t many cases. But for so many, campus is home, and the sudden loss of access to dining halls and university accommodations poses a serious hardship. I don’t claim to know what’s best for everyone at this time. It really depends on your personal context, and I’ll leave dictation of health-related best practices to the professionals.

My church decided that we wouldn’t meet as a congregation on Sunday and the local state university closed today. I wonder what faithfulness looks like here. I think for me, this time away is providing a rare opportunity to reassess how I spend my time. What will it look like to “do Yale” without being chronically busy with extracurriculars? What was so important anyway?

I’m sad that I probably won’t see my Yale friends for a while, but I think this is where God has me right now, and I don’t want to miss the opportunity to keep walking faithfully with Him here because I’m pining away for what I could have in Connecticut. As more schools are moving online, my friends who went out of state for college are coming back one by one, and this is probably the only time we’ll all be together again. I can’t help but think that this isn’t just a coincidence. 

I spend so much at Yale wishing my home community was different. There are things I’d want to change at church, people I wish I had gotten to know better, and ways I wish I could be present in my high school to advise students, but I’m always too far away to change anything. Now I’m right here, and I’m praying for the next step in faithfulness.

We don’t know how this moment will be remembered in history. Once past, moments like these have a tendency to dull in significance. But I know that the choices we make now matter. 

Being at home is not like being at Yale, but I believe we’re all called to continue walking in faithfulness wherever we find ourselves. Faith in the face of coronavirus is not blindly insisting on meeting as a church per usual and ignoring the real dangers that this pandemic can pose for people (though many churches are still faithfully meeting and taking precautions). It is not ignoring the problem or wishing it away. 

That’s not what’s modeled for us in the Bible. Much of the prayers in the Old Testament are examples of people coming to God with their problems and asking how long He’ll allow bad things to continue. In Psalms, David asks God why He’s abandoned him or why He feels so far away. The inclusion of these moments in the Bible leads me to believe that acknowledging the problem and lamenting over the lives that are lost is a valid and biblical response. 

But we shouldn’t stop there.

As my discipler frequently reminds me, these examples of lament in the Bible don’t stop at acknowledging the problem. Ultimately, they “tell God who God is and ask him to be that God now”. In my experience, I’ve come to realize that crying out to God is an exercise in faith and hope. Faith that God is listening and hope that He cares enough to something about it.  

I think faith means turning to Jesus and resting in the peace that God is sovereign over all things, including pandemics. In that sense, faith here looks the same as it does in any situation where we don’t understand what is going on. 

We should excel at the revealed things like loving our neighbors and caring for the stranger. For me, that might mean doing more around the house to support my mom as she continues to work at the hospital. It could mean driving my sister to school or reconnecting with friends who I’ve drifted away from in college and supporting them through their anxieties. 

We should pray for wisdom to move forward and wait on the Lord to reveal it. And when we find ourselves in the midst of uncertainty, we should bring those to God too. His promises are still true, He is still in control, and He still cares for you. 

Maybe these are our new extracurriculars. 

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. -1 Peter 5:7

Prayer in the Face of Coronavirus

Father God,

You are sovereign over all things, all-powerful, and in control,

You are the great healer and the God of peace,

So we ask you to heal and to give us peace in the midst of difficult situations

There is so much brokenness in the world,

So much that needs to be made right

And we thank you that one day, you will make things right

Please be with the families who are grieving right now

And with those who share in their grief.

Please be with those who are traveling

And give us wisdom on when to be with people

And when to love from a distance

Things are confusing right now

So many things are up in the air

Give us the strength to move forward

And protect us from our fear.

You are not the author of confusion but of peace,

Please help us as we work out the logistics of staying home longer than we planned,

Staying with friends,

Or in unexpected places

Whether at home or far from it

Give us eyes to see what you’re calling us to:

The people who are hurting you want us to comfort,

The small ways we can love our families, our neighbors, and strangers in your name,

And the next step in faithfulness that you’re asking us to take.