The land shall mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; (Zechariah 12:12 ESV)
We are experiencing an almost incomprehensible reality today, with events around us changing at a dizzying pace. Within a couple of weeks, much of the productivity of our country has come to a grinding halt with people ordered to stay home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But in this challenging environment, we are called to stand in the position that God has prepared for us.
God can and will work through this crisis to awaken many who are walking in darkness without knowledge of Him. God uses crises to wake up those who are living in apathy, those who are living for an interminable future without considering their mortality and the meaning of their lives. One thing this pandemic has done is shatter the illusion that people’s day-to-day lives will continue without significant disruption. The pressure, worries, tasks and pleasures of day-to-day existence are used by the enemy to keep a lot of people away from God.
God is working through this crisis to wake up people to the fact of their fragile existence, and to the fact that our days on the earth are finite. More than that, God is giving everyone time and space to stop and ponder these questions over a focused period of time, and to meditate on Him and to seek and to find, by His grace, the truth that salvation comes through believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Although Zechariah Chapter 12 focuses on the final battle for Jerusalem at the end of the Tribulation before Christ appears in the sky to all, we see that God is allowing a foreshadowing of this prophecy to occur today with the current COVID-19 pandemic. Note how today verse, Zechariah 12:12, places emphasis on the idea of families being in isolation together.
God pours out His Spirit of grace during times such as this, and His grace is available to everyone who will ask to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. Zechariah Chapter 12 encourages us and gives us hope that during the current period of suffering and isolation we will see significant numbers turning to God around the world.
"The greatest good suffering can do for me is to increase my capacity for God."
- Joni Eareckson Tada