So is God doing a good job in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic? Is He paying attention? Does He care? Deist believe God created the world and then just set it in motion, gave mankind the ability to reason, and just sets back and observes. They use situations and circumstances like COVID-19, the 9-11 attacks, World Wars, and natural disasters of a God who is disconnected and not actively engaged with his creatures. Some(Dystheists) even go so far as to believe that God is not wholly good, and is possible evil. Theists believe Romans 8:28, which says: 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. But do ALL things work together for good?
First, Romans 8:28 doesn’t say all things are ‘good’- it says God works ALL things together for good. COVID-19 and the death and sickness it brings is not good and anyone who says it is ain’t got a clue. There are bad things in this world and death is our enemy. Don’t tell people to praise the Lord for COVID-19 or for the loss of their loved one. Sickness and death are our enemy, but God does use bad things to bring about good things in a believer’s life.
In his commentary on Romans, John MacArthur explains that God is working out our good during this present life as well as ultimately in the life to come. No matter what happens in our lives as His children, the providence of God uses it for our temporal as well as our eternal benefit, sometimes by saving us from tragedies and sometimes by sending us through them in order to draw us closer to Him. It’s like a pancake- there are two sides, but we only see the one side. Both sides are necessary and essential, but we only see the top. Back to Romans 8- in that passages there is what is known as the ‘golden chain of salvation.’ There is a progression in a believers life, ultimately leading them to GLORIFICATION. The ALL we go through prepares us for that glorification. R.C. Sproul does a good job of explaining it in this writing: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/golden-chain-salvation/
Second, God is actively engaged with His creation and His creatures. The Bible has accounts of several OT and NT characters who God directly, but let’s just take Joseph. From Genesis Chapters 30-46, we see God directing Joseph’s steps and not all his circumstances were good. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, wrongly accused by Potiphar’s wife, thrown into jail and was close to execution, but then God exalted him. The example of Joseph was that no matter the circumstances, good or bad, he trusted God.
John Piper has written a new book that is available on audiobook free. Here is the link. It’s a two hour listen, but ole Ernest Lee highly recommends it.
Third, is God doing a good job with COVID-19? The key is He is God and He makes no mistakes. He is holy, sovereign, righteous, and loving. He may be using this virus to punish the world- or He may be using it to cause people to think about their mortality- or He may be using it to slow down the hectic lifestyle pace of believers. But whatever his reason, we should say as Job:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Job 13:15.
Ernest Lee Contendin 