“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!” James 4:8
I had to chuckle as I was reading back over James this morning and I got to verse 8. Now, I read this yesterday, but today it just spoke to my spirit…meaning someone needs to hear it. God has a sense of humor, y’all. He does say laughter is good medicine! (Proverbs 17:22). With all this coronavirus talk on television, social media and around the coffee pot at work, it’s overwhelming. I know we are all tired of hearing about it…but how quick have people been to follow worldly wisdom and stockpile toilet paper, paper towels and hand sanitizer? The majority of the world is living according to the world’s wisdom.
When James is writing here in verse 4, it is about repentance and getting back to living according to Godly wisdom and having faith and trust in God. We have blindly chased after the things that we “think” we need in relation to this pandemic…yet all along, God has said trust me…I will take care of you. When we move close to God, He movers closer to us.
Maybe this craziness is a call by God for us to trust Him more and not rely so much on how much toilet paper and sanitizer we have stockpiled in the garage? We must trust Him for Who He says He is!
Maybe we all need reminding to cleanse our physical hands to keep from getting sick, but more importantly we need to be cleansing our spiritual hands from the desires of this world. We want God to pour out His blessings on our lives, but we ride the proverbial wave of emotions that come with this world and are double-minded. We straddle the stockpiled boxes of toilet paper, using preparation has a scapegoat for complete trust in the God of the universe. We are limiting our access to everything God has for us when you have dirty hands (spiritually). Just like in the natural, we can’t just wash our hands one time and that will last us forever…it must be continual. We must repeatedly cleanse our hands and draw near to God through His Word and prayer. God also says to pray without ceasing (1 Thes. 5:17).
Y’all, I know this coronavirus and it’s effects can be scary. Unfortunately, what scares me more is that people are missing an opportunity to see the hand of God at work, if we will but cleanse our hands and let Him take care of the rest. Refuse to listen to this world and listen to what God says.
Read Psalm 91 today. Allow it to sink into your spirit. Read it tomorrow, too.
The protection that comes from the Lord is more powerful than any Purell, my friends!
(And yes…there is a hand sanitizer and toilet paper drawing in my Bible 😂)
