FULFILLING GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE IN OUR CALLINGS: PROFESSIONALS COMBATTING COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE.
Olasiji Vincent OSHIN
As a young man in my early twenties, I came to know the Lord in a church where divine healing is preached as a component part of salvation experience. We were taught that being a Christian means we must trust God for healing without medication, referencing Isaiah 53:5 and James 5:13 – 15. Seeking treatment in hospitals is regarded as a mark of unbelief in the atoning work of Christ on the cross. So to use medicine as a Christian is to lose one's salvation. It was indeed an anathema for young members of the church to aspire to study medicine and nursing or allied disciplines in any Higher institution. Needless to say that many members of the church who embraced such teaching, including some vibrant young people died unnecessary deaths. I escaped death because I left the church when I gained admission to read history in the University where I joined a Christian fellowship and was exposed to balanced Bible teaching.
One can only imagine what the world would have been in this day of covid-19 pandemic if there are no scientists such as epidemiologists, pharmacists, pharmacologists and other medical experts: people with advanced knowledge in medicine, resulting from years of painstaking research in medical science and disease infection control. Doctors, nurses and other health workers are in the front line of the war against covid-19. It is on record that the outbreak of Spanish flu, the pandemic of 1918 infected 500 million people – about a third of world’s population of the time and claimed a staggering 50 million human lives worldwide. That was an age when knowledge of medical science was way below it’s present day’s standard.
Let us put in context the work of these experts and our own callings within God's eternal purpose in creation. As Christians we have different callings. God has packaged every one of his children for specific purposes on earth. It is of no use wanting to be what God has not created you to be. Parents need to take caution here. Some parents are guilty of pressuring their children to pursue the parents' chosen course of study, even when, their children are not interested in or feel cut out for the course of study or profession. It is important for parents to assist their children to discover their God-given talents towards realizing their calling in life. That is the way a child will excel at school and in his profession as a doctor, a lawyer, a musician, a nurse or an engineer.
In Genesis 1 God made pronouncements about humans and their calling:
“Then God said, let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” (v. 26).
God's purpose is for us to exercise dominion over the earth. God made humans in his image. God creates. As humans made in his image, we are designed to create. There are two great commissions in the Bible, one in the Old Testament, and one in the New. The first in Genesis calls humans to fill and cultivate the earth. The second in Mattew 28: 16-20 commands believers to “make disciples of all nations…” God calls us to be fruitful and increase in number: “fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen.1:28). As Perry Glanzer writes in CHRISTIANITY TODAY, “ Humankind is given the honor of creating culture. We make tools, write music, and build cities. As humans we construct whole civilizations with roads and bridges, with languages and books. We launch businesses and charities, found hospitals, schools and universities. We establish art galleries and theatres.” What is more, humans build space crafts and land on the moon.
In all these endeavors, God made humans to seek after him, to know his thoughts and character. We are designed to desire truth, goodness and beauty, and to discover God’s wisdom in obeying his command and fulfilling his purposes (Proverbs 1:8).
We learn and work not just to make money, but also because God made us in his image so that we might reflect his creativity. God's creativity - that is the stuff geniuses and inventors manifest in their works. Watch an artist, a painter at work and if you are like me, you will be amazed at the ease and dexterity with which he draws, creating a masterpiece conceived in his mind. Not many of us can draw, paint or carve stones and woods. In my amazements however, I remember that the same God who endowed Bazalel and Oholiab with the special skills they needed for building the Tabernacle according to his specifications is still at work filling people he calls with talents and skills appropriate to fulfilling the purpose of their callings in our day (Exodus 31: 6-7).
I have often marveled at the variety of scientific breakthroughs that people take for granted today. For instance I marvel at how humans succeeded in explaining human anatomy, the workings of the various organs in the human body and how humans came up with appropriate medicine to deal with specific diseases. I marvel at human's audacity in inventing aircraft and flying in the air. I see in all these God's intentional sharing of himself, his image, with humanity. They are the reflections of God’s grace and l
ove for humans, revealing himself in the works of their hands. In other words, all healings whether through the use of medication in hospitals or through laying of hands on the sick, are divine healing. God alone is the healer of our diseases.
All the ingredients of medicine - the herbs, seeds etc. – compounded by pharmacologists and pharmacists in their laboratories to create the tablets and capsules we swallow when we are sick, are all made by God. God said to Adam “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food” (Gen.1:29).
God gave humankind all we need to live and be healthy. It was not in God's agenda for humans to be sick and die physically. Sickness and death are a fallout of the Fall. Even after the Fall, human physical body did not know how to die. Adam lived 930 years, Seth lived 912 years, Enosh 905 years, Methuselah lived 969 years before he died. With the fall, human body was bombarded with toxic foods and drinks not meant for their wellbeing, with the effect of drastically reducing the lifespan of humans. Which is why believers need to exercise personal discipline and be wary of what they put into their mouths. Food and drug addictions do great damage to the human body and should be avoided. Knowledge, they say is power. I say learning and knowledge are the spice of life.
The Spanish flu spread worldwide during 1918 – 1919 with devastating impact. Now that the world is having to contend with covid-19, and the professionals, men and women with expertise in disease infection control are taking the lead in combatting the deadly virus, we are called to pray, lifting up holy hands in the fight to mitigate the effects of the virus on humanity.
We are also called to learn and acquire knowledge because God made us in his own image so that we might reflect his creativity, truth, goodness and beauty. In our prayers we are joined with Christ in recovering the fullness of God's image to reverse the effect of the Fall on both our individual lives and the world as a whole.
This knowledge should propel professionals, especially believers in whatever field we find ourse!ves to work harder at our calling, showing forth the glory of Him who has called us from darkness into his marvelous light. In doing so we are one with God, the Creator, and his Christ who will not fail to grant us eternal rewards for our faithfulness.
