I recently went to bed with a heavy heart for people who are feeling the effects of the COVID-19 quarantine. Some people do not do well with isolation for myriad reasons:
- Isolation feeds those that are already prone to anxiety, depression and fear.
- Some are caring for medically fragile loved ones and they feel the tremendous weight of that responsibility.
- Some had major life changes right before this virus hit – family turmoil, a serious diagnosis, a major life change and now they are processing those changes alone – separated from their normal support system of family and friends.
- Others are in desperate need of community. God designed us to need each other. This mandatory separation is not natural to us and it leaves us feeling down and alone.
Psalm 91 came to mind: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”
“Dwells” means to live in a specified place – right now – presently! When we live in the present and stay in the shelter of God, we are protected. When we move from under that covering by looking at the past, we have a tendency to be filled with comparison or regret. When we look to the future, we can’t possibly know what it will hold and that can produce fear and anxiety. When we dwell in the present, that’s right where God wants us!
The shelter spoken of in Psalm 91 belongs God, the Most High, but he offers to share this secret place with us. We can’t even go shopping or to school, work or church right now because of the quarantine, but God’s shelter is never closed and it is always accessible to us! We are not alone! This isolation will pass, but God Almighty has offered to us a shelter where we can rest now and always!
~Kristine Morgan