I like advice. Crowdsourcing my decision making isn’t uncommon for me.
Knowing what others – those I respect, admire, and adore – think of how I could approach a situation is helpful and comforting to me. Talking through choices, options, and potential next steps with my closest people has helped me navigate some difficult situations in recent years, making a hard path a little easier feeling like I am not doing it all entirely alone.
Advice during a pandemic, it turns out, is a different story. When people are panicked and life is the most uncertain it has ever felt for many of us, differences of opinion and advice seem as plentiful toilet paper and hand sanitizer are not.
Even when focusing on key experts like the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization – groups I consider to have little skin in the political game and a focus on just the science of what is happening – the recommendations evolve as we learn more. States are taking different approaches on how we should conduct ourselves, interpreting advice from experts in fifty different ways, and there is no shortage of television MD’s ready to tell me if I should or should not wear a mask, how to sanitize my groceries before bringing them in the house, and how I should help my unbelievably social children navigate not being allowed to play with anyone outside of our household.
No wonder I can’t sleep at night.
Here’s the deal. Seeking advice from someone – a close friend, an expert on TV, or online – implies that I trust that person or organization. Right? To seek advice from someone I don’t trust seems foolish.
So, in times of extreme uncertainty when the world is changing by the minute, where do I place my trust first?
My heart, mind, and soul knows where I place my trust – firmly in the hands of Jesus. But my heart, mind, and soul have been deeply distracted by the very real and reasonable fear in a world dealing with a global pandemic. I heard a quote recently from Andy Stanley:
“Faith often deteriorates as our circumstances deteriorate.”
Andy Stanley
Fear can drive me to place my trust in others and not to rest in the hands of Christ. And that’s where trying to follow the advice of many can be tricky, confusing, and leave me feeling like I’m chasing my tail. And when I’m chasing my tail, my eyes are not on Jesus.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I do believe there are experts and wiser heads that we should be closely listening to in this time of crisis. They have God-given wisdom and expertise and those are the human voices we should allow to influence our decision making.
But in this particularly challenging season, my eyes must remain on Jesus and that should be the lens through which I evaluate the humans I will – and will not – listen to. I trust the Lord for discernment, wisdom, peace, and provision. Even in the midst of a pandemic.
So, let’s wash our hands, strap on those facemasks in public spaces where we cannot socially distance, and sanitize those groceries. But, let’s do those wise things during this time of uncertainty with our eyes clearly fixed on Jesus, the ultimate trustworthy source of peace.
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
