On Crane Flies and the Corona Virus
If you’ve been out walking the neighborhoods lately for exercise or just out of sheer boredom, you can’t help but notice that it is crane fly season. Every step you take along the sidewalk stirs up a nest of them. Don’t worry though, they aren’t harmful, and they won’t be around for long. The adult crane fly has a lifespan of 10-15 days. While their larvae feed on decaying organic matter in the ground, adult crane flies don’t even eat. Their only purpose is to reproduce. Their lives are short, fragile, and meaningless.
The coronavirus has shown us how fragile human life and human culture can be. Just a few weeks ago, everything seemed normal. Life is now anything but normal. People are infected with coronavirus but don’t know it, posing extreme danger to others with weakened immune systems. Until doctors discover a vaccine, the only solution is to remain isolated to try to slow the spread of the virus. Yesterday, the governor of California ordered people to stay in their homes unless they are going out for essential supplies. Other states will most likely follow. This morning, Molly and I went to Walmart, Staples, Tom Thumb and Kroger, and couldn’t find toilet paper. It turns out that our lives, and our society, are just as fragile as the life of the crane fly. Introduce a new virus, and society is crippled. Everything that we took for granted is either lost, or at best threatened.
That’s why we must remember not to depend on the things of the world. Our hope is always in God alone. David wrote Psalm 20 on the eve of a battle, praying for victory over his enemies. In verse 7, David wrote: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, But we will trust in the name of the Lord, our God.” David understood that it’s not the number of chariots or horses you have, but rather, whether God is with you.
That’s good advice for us today. Life is fragile. James tells us our lives are but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. It’s easy for us to take not only our lives for granted, but also simple things, like assuming there is an endless supply of toilet paper. Now we see how quickly the world can be shaken. Now we see how futile dependence on the world and the things in to can be. The coronavirus should teach us that we can take nothing for granted. Everything we have, from our lives, to even the most basic supplies, all come from the hand of God. The coronavirus teaches us that anything we are trusting in other than the Lord, can be lost in a heartbeat. The true and eternal God is the only unchanging One, who we can depend on when all else is threatened or lost.
As we wait for doctors to find a vaccine for the coronavirus, let’s remember that God Himself is the One who will provide it. Of course, God will use doctors to discover it, but whether the vaccine is chloroquine (a drug used to treat malaria that doctors are optimistic may work on coronavirus), or some other medication, it will come from God’s hand. God will provide the vaccine once He has accomplished His purposes for the coronavirus.
In the meantime, let’s take all recommended precautionary measures. Let’s pray continually for the safety of those around us. Let’s ask what we can do to help. But remember that we don’t measure life by the number of horses or chariots we have. Life’s real significance is not in things, but in knowing that even in the midst of calamity, God is on our side. He proved that by sending His Son to die on the cross for us.