Today's Trouble is Enough for Today

So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.  Today's trouble is enough for today.  

These words are found in the Bible, in the book of Matthew where the author quotes Jesus Christ himself in a passage known as the Sermon on the Mount.  It closes out a narrative in which Jesus points to the priority and importance of believing in and trusting God.  Jesus is pointing out that worrying about temporal pursuits can be a distraction and can become more important to us than the spiritual pursuit of faith in God.  The big picture is that worrying about circumstances that you cannot control is a waste of time.  And the situation in which we currently find ourselves is a great place to apply these words.

Not worrying about what's going on is not the same thing as just doing things the way you always did them.  This is a pandemic caused by a virus from which no one is immune.  Therefore, without taking precautions, it can spead rapidly through casual contact.  It is not fatal for the majority of those who get sick from it, though from what is currently being observed, while there are some people who will only experience mild symptoms, most people who get it are sicker than they get with the flu for a longer period of time.  Additional precautions are needed because you can carry this virus without having the symptoms and because the fatality rate is unpredictable and higher than it is with the flu.  There's no legitimate comparison between this virus and the previous pandemics we've dealt with in the past.  We're just a couple months into this one and the number of infected and dead are already surpassing the entire span of the other recent influenza pandemics.

There's no vaccine yet and there's no treatment medication which provides consistent results across the board.  There's been a lot of talk about several possible medications which may work, one of them being hydrochloroquine. There was some sketchy evidence that, combined with another medication, some people with the milder form of COVID-19 may have symptoms that respond to this particular drug, but it has already been proven, in many other places, that this treatment is not universally successful and that the drug produces side effects, including cardiac arrhythmia.  In spite of a lot of attempts on social media and in a few media outlets to push this as a viable treatment, it turns out that the "real science" showed this to be a dead end, though, like those who loaded up on hand sanitizer and toilet paper, there were a few hoarders who bought up big supplies of the drug before it went bust.  Turns out it has some unpleasant side effects for the very people who also are in danger from COVID-19, one of those cures that kills the patient. 

This isn't a right or left wing political issue.  It's a viral pandemic.  It is something that is part of human history on this planet.  It is something that medical science has been writing about, warning about and preparing for since long before I was born.  Human intellect has developed a knowledge of the way the human body functions and operates to the point where we have the knowledge and ability to prolong life well beyond what once would have been its natural limits.  Things that were once considered impossible are now routine.  And yet, human intellect still has its limits when it comes to the whole spectrum of creation.  We know all about viruses and how they operate, but the scope of our knowledge is limited and the possibilities of a viral infection are virtually limitless.  Our great technological strides and limitless mobility have made worldwide epidemics more possible than ever before and have widened, not narrowed, their spectrum.  Sounds a little bit like George Orwell in the past century, doesn't it?  The future is now the present.

There will be a vaccination developed to build a person's immunity to COVID-19 and there will also be medication developed to control the symptoms and prevent fatalities.  But there will be another strain of virus or bacteria that will mutate to overcome and survive the things that kill it and prevent it from causing illness or death.  That's a fact of life.  We know that staying apart and limiting mobility is the best weapon to fight this virus.  It would be irresponsible not to follow the directives given to us by government officials, at least, those officials who are implicitly following the advice of the medical professionals who have full knowledge of what is happening and know what will work.  "Don't worry about tomorrow" does not translate at all into "just go about your business and ignore what is happening."  There's also Romans 13:1-7 and I Peter 2:13-17.  You go on and read that, now, and think about what your governor or mayor or county supervisor has asked you to do.  I'll talk about that later on.

You can't expect God to answer your prayer for protection from this virus if you're not willing to protect yourself.