Have you ever wondered what God is doing through the tumultuous events of the first half of 2020? I know I have. And I am concluding that He is speaking through our nation’s pain, each expression being a sign from Him. However, as the book of Job records, “Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it” (Job 33:14).
God uses dramatic, attention-getting signs to speak to nations. Take for example the ten plagues He unleashed on Egypt, each one bearing a Divine message. Or, consider Israel’s cyclical history of crises during the Judges period, each trauma they endured a sign of their spiritual decline. Jesus predicted that climactic events would herald His return, just as “birth pangs” signal the advent of a newborn, intensifying as the event draws near. Signs have long been one of God’s favorite forms of communication.
Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign
One of the indications that God is speaking through signs is repetition. Like the ten plagues, or Israel’s cyclical history, or Jesus’ “birth pangs,” once is not enough. Humans are too willing to discount or explain away crises and therefore God must get our attention by repeating the message, often with increasing intensity like a woman in labor.
Do we see a repetition of increasingly painful events of late? Consider how the year started. In January, the world lost an elite black athlete named Kobe Bryant. People the world over admired Bryant and grieved his untimely passing, not to mention his daughter who perished at his side.
News of Covid 19, broke around the same time as Bryant’s death. The pandemic ravaged the planet. Each of our lives were impacted, if not by disease itself then by our fear of it.
Next, the nation was gripped by the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a young black man from Brunswick, Georgia, gunned down by whites. And then the whole world felt the impact of the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And even with that loud outcry still going on, a white policeman shot Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta, Georgia, intensifying the “pangs” the nation was feeling.
Narrative Matters
I also want to suggest that the Divine meaning of a sign is not necessarily man’s narrative. In fact, the two can be miles apart. The meaning of a sign, or series of signs, is rarely tied to the immediate significance of the events that make up those signs. The ten plagues in Egypt were not about the quality of water in the Nile nor about a deadly disease that impacted every Egyptian household. The Divine message was, “Let my People Go!”
In the same way, the famines, droughts, and invasions that Israel suffered did not mean they needed to improve their farming techniques or military tactics. It meant that they needed to fix things in their relationship with God. The “birth pangs” Jesus predicted were not about the events in and of themselves, but about His return.
If all we do is focus on the immediate impact of a sign, we miss its Divine message. So, how might we interpret events that have rocked our nation in a way that moves beyond their apparent significance to what God might be trying to tell us? Let me offer you three biblically oriented possibilities:
- Beginning of Birth Pangs – It could be that recent events are precursors to a major shift in human history. Sadly, I do not mean the end of racism. But just as the ten plagues were precursors to the Exodus or how the signs Jesus described in Matthew 24 herald his Second Coming, recent events could signal a major hinge point in human history. As a colleague suggested, we do not know if we are living in the end times or not but perhaps the tragedies of late are a foretaste of what is on the horizon.
- Death and Justice Come for Us all – Two themes summarize the whirlwind of crises we are in: death and justice. When you put the two together, we get a sense that God is reminding the world that just as death came for Kobe Bryant it also came for Ahmaud Arbery. Just as death came for George Floyd it also came for Covid victims. And just as it came for grown men like Rayshard Brooks death also took Gianna Bryant and Breonna Taylor. God is reminding the world that injustice in this life is not to be feared as much as justice in the next. And that we need to prepare to face His perfect justice.
- A Prophetic Warning – Perhaps God is saying to America and the world: “I am speaking to you through an exasperated people, because I am exasperated with you! You have ignored the warnings I have been sending! Listen up! It is because you have forsaken Me that you no longer have an unbiased view of justice. Since these things have long impacted a people that I love, you as a people will experience their pain. Just as death has unfolded speedily in your midst so you will experience a sudden end. Justice on earth may seem elusive, but My justice will be satisfied.”
Whichever narrative you choose, God is calling for the same response: Repentance. This is primarily a response God is looking for from the church. A friend recently stated, “If we don’t know how to pray now, then we don’t know how to pray.” If the first six months of 2020, do not drive the church out of her lackluster routines, I shudder to think what it will take. Perhaps the rest of 2020 will reveal just that.
Rev. Mark Barnard serves with Blessing Point Ministries and is the author of The Path of Revival: Restoring Our Nation – One Church at a Time.
