Whitney Capps’ We Over Me is tough, tender and timely. While the title refers to the church, I found it applicable to our current culture. Oftentimes our physical ailments are a visible manifestation of a spiritual condition. Hello, coronavirus! “For Israel, leaving an invasive contagious disease unchecked meant endangering the entire nation. It could spread with catastrophic consequence.” In Leviticus 13, “we see that the priests were entrusted not just with the spiritual health of the people but with their physical health as well. God took great lengths to train the priests and define the diseases that might threaten Israel. But God‘s plan is bigger than just disease prevention...Certainly it was possible for this ever-faithful God to protect the Israelites from disease. That would’ve been much easier for the people than teaching them to inspect these skin sores. But easiness rarely leads to holiness.”
Instead, God gave them the mandate to mask up spiritually! “Teaching the priests and Israelites to be attentive to the potential threat of spreading contagions reminds them of a greater spiritual lesson--sin spreads and corrupts if left unchecked. God wants his people to vigilantly protect themselves against the spread of sin...The priests were not just to acknowledge the presence of threat, but also to deal with it quickly and decisively. Those who were under observation were placed in isolation outside the camp. Their condition was to be named and acknowledged by the whole community.” Think quarantine! “God communicates in no uncertain terms the threat complacency poses to the community. Sin spreads, corrupts, and devastates. God takes it seriously – so should we.”
While we continue to seek the antidote for COVID-19, God’s Word provides the prescription to our spiritual condition--repent and return to our First Love, the One Who first loved us.