Imagine with me for a moment that a pastor is driving to church early on a Sunday morning when he gets a flat tire. As he stands on the side of the road, lamenting the fact that he left his jack at home, a man in a pickup truck pulls over and offers to give the pastor a hand.

The tire changing is quickly accomplished, but the conversation between the guys continues, with the Good Samaritan opening up about his life—how his wife left him four years ago after she caught him cheating, how two of his three grown children don’t want anything to do with him now. How his third child, a son, only comes by when he needs money. When the man came upon the pastor, he had been on his way to the liquor store to buy a case of beer—most of which, he admits, would probably be gone by the end of the day.

A text message from his wife reminds the pastor that church is about to start. Apologizing for having to make a quick exit, the pastor invites the man to church and to lunch. Through the pastor’s sermon, he can see the man listening intently. At lunch, they pick up where they left off. After a meal capped with slices of peach pie and coffee, the man bows his head at the table and repeats a prayer of salvation.

The question I want to put before you is this: Did God cause the tire to go flat in order to accomplish his plan or did the flat just happen and God used the unfortunate circumstance to carry out his will?

This is the same question that many people are wrestling with as they try to make sense of COVID-19. There is no doubt that God is accomplishing much through this virus. Internationally, nations are allying, working together to battle this global pandemic. Within nations, people are bonding together, loving each other, sacrificing for one another in a way similar to what was seen in the United States after the 9/11 attack. In a recent poll sponsored by The Joshua Fund, 44 percent of Americans said they see the virus as a wake-up call to turn back to God and the Bible. God is at work, lost people are finding Christ, and Christians are renewing their commitments.

For many, the question is not “What is God doing with this virus?” but “Did God do this virus?” There are those who say that the compassionate Creator could not be the cause of something so devastating. For his hand to be behind this virus would be against his loving nature. However, bringing plague and pestilence is a modus operandi which the Lord has used in the past and will use again in the future. Just one of the many examples of God causing devastation to accomplish his purpose is seen in the plagues against Egypt. He didn’t just happen to time right a seasonal influx of locusts or a catastrophic hailstorm in order to move Pharaoh’s hand. God’s will and intention was behind all ten of the plagues. In the same way, in the future after the church is raptured into Jesus’ presence, our loving Father will allow a time of great Tribulation in order to bring his people Israel to repentance. “And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:8). In both the past and future examples, the key words are “in order to”—as in “in order to accomplish his perfect, loving will.” We may wonder about God’s methodology, but we should never question his purpose.

What purpose could there be for God to bring this kind of devastation? First, there are times he is bringing the just punishment for sin. Second, he often uses difficulties for disciplining his people. “Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe His discipline; for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, just as a father, the son he delights in” (Proverbs 3:11-12). Just like we in love correct our children to help them grow up properly, so God, in his deep fatherly love for us, uses trials to shake us up, get our attention, and put us back on the right track.

Certainly there are times when God is behind the painful periods of our lives. But quite often bad things just happen. Natural disasters come, accidents occur, viruses spread. Is God the cause of all these tragedies? No. They happen because we live in a sin-filled world that has gradually been deteriorating since Adam and Eve first bit the fruit. Yet when we put our eyes on God when those hard times come, his love will comfort and sustain us. These are also the times when the church grows most in godliness, focus, and commitment.

How can we tell the difference between a disaster which God has caused and one he has allowed? Typically, we can’t. But ultimately the origin doesn’t matter. Our response does. Whether God is the actor or the reactor, when we turn our focus toward him, he will use the difficult times to awaken us, to grow us, and to equip us to give hope and comfort to so many others who don’t have the stable foundation of a relationship with him.

If you would like to read in more detail about how God uses pestilence, plagues, and global pandemics, please check out this resource from The Joshua Fund: https://www.joshuafund.com/index.php/learn/news-article/what_does_the_bible_teach_about_pestilence_plagues_and_global_pandemics

—Joel