The year 2020 has asked more questions than most of us have answers. This year has brought about a seemingly endless string of difficult decisions, made all the more difficult by the small amount of information we have on which to base those decisions. Time has come to a screeching halt and also seems to be whizzing by. This is definitely not the year that any of us could have possibly imagined. However, it may have just been the year we needed.
During the height of the pandemic, our church moved worship online only for a period of 10 weeks. This decision was not made lightly, for we consider the gathering of the people of God as integral to the life of the church, but it was the right decision. During those weeks, especially when Zoom calls and uncertainty were at their height, there was very little that was certain. It was important to cut through all the noise and remind ourselves of what we know for sure. Psalm 130:5 became the testimony of a restless heart. It reads, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope.”
It is the Word of God that is our sure foundation in the midst of a whirlwind of uncertainty. If this year has taught us anything, it has reminded us of this truth. The hope that we have is in the One who holds the future in His hands. The promises of God are replete with the certainty of the Father’s protection over His people. As the crisis of COVID-19 escalated, we as believers had one of the most opportune moments in generations to express our faith in the Lord. In our quest for security in this world, we oftentimes say that our trust is in the Lord, but our lives demonstrate that we more likely trust the apparatus of this world. This year reminded us that the apparatus of this world will fail, but God does not.
This year also reminded us of the unqualified call for believers to love their neighbor. The display of our love to our neighbor has manifested itself in various ways. It has been on display in the ways that we seek to protect others around us by following health protocols. It has been on display by the way that we empathize with those who are hurting around us. Like the Samaritan in the parable of Jesus, our neighbor is often one who looks different from us, and our responsibility toward them is to help them in their pain and to provide for them in their suffering. So often we become comfortable — and in our comfort, we find very few challenges to our everyday lives. This year reminded us that we are called to love.
This year has helped us as Baptists also. It has helped us to recognize that in spite of all our differences, we have come together for one reason — and that is to reach the lost with the message of the good news. There have always been differences among us as Southern Baptists. We are not monolithic in philosophy and theology, but we have united around the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 for the purpose of taking the gospel from our communities and to the nations. As the year has gone on, more and more leaders have rallied together to promote the unifying mission of our convention. Many are beginning to use the approved name Great Commission Baptists. The upheaval of this year has caused us to become all the more focused on the mission that we have as Baptists.
There is no doubt that this has been a difficult year with unprecedented challenges. There is also no doubt that the Lord can use even difficult times to remind His people of His promises and His purposes. Let us not waste this year. Let us learn to trust the Lord with all our heart and love our neighbor faithfully. Let us devote ourselves to the mission to which the church has been called, to take the good news with us everywhere we go. The challenges of this year may be just what we needed.
— Josh Powell is president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention and senior pastor of Lake Murray Baptist Church.