COVID-19 Novel Encouragement Sample

God is Faithful

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God. Deuteronomy 7:9

Are you feeling discouraged in this difficult season? Are you struggling to “see” beyond what is hard and what you have lost? No community, no purpose, no movement, no beauty. We are bombarded with stories of outbreaks, closures, restrictions, delays. Are you asking God: “Where are you? I can’t see You in this. In fact, I can’t see you at all!”

We can be assured that He indeed hears us. He answers us in the midst of this pandemic. God is faithful and unchanging. His words of hope and the promise of His presence stand true today. One of my favorite passages is found in Isaiah 43. God’s voice resounds:

I am doing a new thing; Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

My eyes are so often fixed on what is difficult or what I have lost. I fail to see God’s presence and His promises. Can you relate? How do we have eyes to perceive God’s faithfulness and the new thing that He is doing? Maybe these simple prayers of faith will lift our perspective:

Pray that we will have eyes to perceive that God is faithful in loving His children.

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. You are precious in my eyes and honored, And I love you, ... Isaiah 43:3-4

Our God is constant, and He loves us! The gospel is His deep, ultimate proclamation of love. He has adopted, redeemed, justified, and sealed us. Every day He is whispering “I love you” in the smiles of our children, in photographs of beauty, in texts from friends, in the songs that spring from our lips.

Pray that we will have eyes to perceive that God is faithful in declaring His glory.

I am the Lord, and besides me There is no savior. ... And you are my witnesses, And I am God. Isaiah 43:11-12

We are weak and fearful, yet He has chosen us to be His witnesses! We are surrounded by people in desperate need of hope. They feel like they have lost everything. Those things that brought them satisfaction and joy are gone. Where will they find their answers? We are the ones with words of life. He is faithful to declare His glory in this broken situation through us.

Pray that we have eyes to perceive that God is faithful in preserving and transforming His children.

I work, and who can turn it back? ... 
Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Isaiah 43:13, 18

Not only are we quick to see the difficulties facing us, but we are also quick to see our failures in difficult times. At the end of the day, we often recount our outbursts, our laziness, our weaknesses, but God tells us He is doing a new thing. He is making a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. He is transforming us into the image of His Son. He is deepening our faith and rooting our understanding of His faithfulness. Let us worship and praise at the end of each day because when we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13).

Prayer: Father, give me new eyes. Help me to see beyond what is temporary. When I am caught in doubt and discouragement and distraction, change my perspective. Help me today to see that You are faithful in Your love; You are faithful in proclaiming Your glory, and You are faithful in transforming me.

By KP, BICF-ZGC, Beijing