This past week our state (Michigan) closed all our public schools, which I work for. We are all under the stay at home order and implementing social distancing. This is not how I am designed. I have a very outgoing personality, and thrive on social connection.

I have connections with many different groups throughout the week. One night I volunteer at Battleground Skate House which is a local skate park ministry. Another night my wife and I connect with a group for ministry and dinner on the other side of the state. There is another night where we meet with a Hebrew study group. There are also times I attend my fencing club on another night. I have various other meetings I schedule monthly on the open nights; board meetings, prayer meetings to name a few.

Then there are my jobs; like I stated I work full-time for a public school doing computer programing. I also have a contract position with the fencing club and teach fencing at two different schools, one every day during the school’s first block, and one that is once-a-week on Wednesdays for two-and-a-half hours.

I probably connect and have a personal interaction with an average of 150 people a week, not counting people that serve me like waitresses, clerks, gas station attendants, etc.

The Setup

I do not believe that this is God’s judgment on the world, but He will use it for His good. He is causing me and maybe others to inspect all we are doing, and reassess if this is what He wants for us. Through this time I have been asking God what things I need to add back in once we are released back into society.

Rest and Reset

He is causing me to rest and reset. I am taking this time to come back to what is truly important: faith and family. Not that I wasn’t already doing these things. Prior to this season I was getting up and worshipping and praying for thirty to forty-five minutes before leaving for work at 6:30 am. I spend almost every minute outside of my work hours with my wife.

I have seen and felt different in my closeness to both God and my wife during this time. We have been able to spend extended time in worship and prayer both together and separately. I have found a new rest in the presence of God and asking what parts of my life I need to reset. Some of those areas I need to reset are in overextending my time and continuing to spend quality time with Him and with my wife.

Setback

There are some setbacks that will happen and have happened during this time. I personally have lost financial income from both the fencing classes, that I instructed, and looks as if my wife may be placed on “leave without pay” for the next thirty days with no guarantee of returning to work.

So yes there are some setbacks, but it is not God’s doing He did not cause the setback, it is just a circumstance of the situation. God has always been my wife and I supply and He is the one who sustains us. Psalms 91 is now my go-to scripture through all of this, I will be reciting it daily in my prayer times.

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge;his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Psalms 91:1-16 ESV

APPLICATION

• Are you viewing this situation as a setup of a setback?
• Draw closer to God and rest in His presence.
• Find the scripture that will cause you to view this situation as setup and recite those verses daily.