Testing Is Not Trusting

Okay folks, I been seeing a lot of news articles showing that there are quite a few large congregations still joining together en masse to worship on Sundays. There are varying opinions on this from obedience to lunacy. Although commendable from an obedience to Hebrews 10:25 standpoint. It's dangerous. Doing works for the sake of works or going to church because we feel obligated isn’t Christian behavior per se. We're missing the point of Hebrews 10:25 when it says to not forsake gathering together with others.

In the context of COVID-19 this is a really bad idea. We cannot tell who is actually infected because we either can’t get everyone tested or because they show no symptoms. We therefore must assume everyone is potentially infected. To gather closely together is an invitation for mass infection. This can be deadly to those with risk factors such as the elderly or those with cardiopulmonary conditions.

This isn't being faithful, its being socially and ethically irresponsible. There are plenty of biblical precedence of people being isolated from a community for the good of a community and those being quarantined or separated are being quite faithful. We have the technology to meet albeit indirectly. The truth about the elderly in our midst that don't have computers is if we take precautions like masks we can check on them and talk to them. I do so with my mother. She is one of my ministries. But gathering in large crowds right now is just a poor idea. Perhaps even unbiblical because putting the weak or infirm in jeopardy is frowned upon in the Old and New Testament.

Exodus 22:22-23 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry…

Psalm 82:3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

1 Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

I’ve been told I am condoning the restrictions of religious liberties by saying this. No. I’m using commonsense. Something it seems many Christians throw directly out the window when they come into the faith and say, “Let go and let God take over!” Uh, no. God wants you to own your behaviors not blame Him for your stupidity. Hence the reason you can still be held accountable for your sin.

In the laws about skin diseases in Leviticus 13 there is a very clear statement about potentially contagious conditions.

Leviticus 13:45-46 A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ As long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone in a place outside the camp.

The infected man is being told to verbally identify himself as a risk to others and warn them by yelling “Unclean!” This warning allows people to keep their distance from him. His outward appearance is a visual warning as everyone else knew this levitical law too. How do we know its distance that is the desired effect? It says so in the next verse. He is to be outside the camp until the condition passes or as long as ‘he is unclean’. Its is implied there is a risk involved here. Even if, at times, the risk is not directly visible or is invisible to the unaffected/uninfected.

2 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 26 brings us another example in the terrifying and contagious disease of leprosy (Hanson’s Disease). A long-term infection by a bacteria that can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damage may result in a lack of ability to feel pain, which can lead to the loss of parts of a person's extremities from repeated injuries or infection due to unnoticed wounds. Regardless, the disease was terrifying to the ancient world. The prescription even for a ruler like King Azariah/Uzziah? Because he was disobedient in not tearing down high places (places of pagan worship) he was afflicted with leprosy and part of the treatment was stated:

2 Kings 15:5 “…The Lord afflicted the king with leprosy until the day he died, and he lived in a separate house.”

2 Chronicles 26:21 ~ “Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king's house judging the people of the land.

He was deliberately quarantined for the remainder of his life in separate quarters to prevent transmission of the bacteria/infection to others. Conversely, we are not to deliberately put people in harm’s way. Especially if we know a situation is dangerous to them.

Psalm 37:32-34 The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, intent on putting them to death; but the Lord will not leave them in the power of the wicked or let them be condemned when brought to trial. Hope in the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are destroyed, you will see it.

I have news for those in the Church in what I've referred to as viral denial. Coronavirus COVID-19 is killing a lot of the elderly. Any precautions possible to protect them should be utilized. To do otherwise is to just be foolish and unwise. 

Jesus clearly showed by example that one should not purposely put one's self at risk when he was speaking to the Devil in the wilderness. How so?

Matthew 4:5-7 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

The setting here is the second temptation. Satan took Jesus to a high point of the temple. Satan wanted Jesus to demonstrate His trust in God in a spectacular way by challenging God's faithfulness to Jesus. Not unlike the risk we would be taking going into a potentially deadly infected church. Jesus flatly denies Satan this opening to challenge God. Period. Scriptures prohibited putting God to a test, not because He questioned God's faithfulness to His promise. Satan tempted Jesus to test God through Jesus' actions. Satan was tempting Jesus to act as if God was there to serve Him, rather than the other way around. 

Israel had faced the same test and failed in Exodus 17:2-7, Numbers 20 (Water from the rock). It is wrong to demand that God prove Himself faithful to His promises by giving us what He has promised on OUR terms. The proper way is simply to trust and obey God as shown in Deuteronomy 6:16-17. So, to the foolish gathering together in this deadly time in the world be warned. You are testing God.

What did Jesus mean? Simple really. Testing is not trusting. It is sin to test God. By purposely joining together in a church potentially infected with COVID-19 is literally challenging God to meet you where you are at in terms of your faith. Challenging God to come forth to prove your faith correct. That is a sin and always ended poorly in Scripture. To me it is no different than the snake-handlers tempting fate daring the snake to strike them. In a way, you’re snake handling…daring the viper to strike. Not an enviable position to be in physically of spiritually.