Corona Devo 155

The two steps forward and one step back pattern of Corona makes me a bit cuckoo.

My mom loved clocks, and we had more than one that would sound on the hour.  My favorite was the cuckoo clock.  Each hour a tiny door would swing open and the cuckoo would pop out of his "house" and chirp, "Cuckoo, Cuckoo".  

Anyone feeling like that little crazy bird as Corona wears on?  

Like the cuckoo, we keep popping our heads out of our houses and sticking our toes into little pools of society to "test the waters" and see if public events will cause another virus landslide, or if we might actually be able to venture out a tiny but further than the last time without calamity.

It's a cycle that may not happen every hour (like the cuckoo chirps), but it feels regular enough that we could set our watch to the repetition of it.

Noah's flood was much more monumental than our Corona-flood, but he also "tested the waters" in the same way, as he tried to discern if the flood was receding.  Noah didn't use a cuckoo, but he did send out a raven and then a dove to seek land.  

After another forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the boat 7 and released a raven. The bird flew back and forth until the floodwaters on the earth had dried up. 8 He also released a dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground. 9 But the dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat, and Noah held out his hand and drew the dove back inside.  ~Genesis 8:6-9

First of all, please don't miss the matter-of-fact statement and real-life similarity to the beginning phrase of today's verses: "After another forty days" (Genesis 8:6). Noah was involved in his own quarantine, and he had delays and extensions very much like us.  In our pre-Corona lives we may have thought 40 days was a long time, but now-a-days it is just the next mandate extension or in-school delay.  I love that God gives us people and situations in the Bible that relate to us today.

And after that additional forty days, Noah sent out the raven and then dove to see if the water had receded and it could find dry ground (Genesis 8:8). 

I think this is the stage that our minds are in, and our Nation.  We are flying back and forth, looking for dry land.  Looking for hope of moving forward, or moving back to some normalcy. We look for dry land in the news reports: But the dove could find no place to land.  We look for dry land in the economy: But the dove could find no place to land.  We look for dry land in earthly leaders: But the dove could find no place to land.  We look for dry land in drops of infection rates: But the dove could find no place to land.

Maybe we are looking in the wrong places for a place to land.

Is anyone else exhausted from flying back and forth, back and forth, back and forth?  I am going cuckoo!

What if we re-charted our flight-plan for today and landed on Jesus and His Word?

10 After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. 11 This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone. 12 He waited another seven days and then released the dove again. This time it did not come back.  ~Genesis 8:10-12

We WILL find the dry-land of healthy bodies, minds and souls again one day soon.  The alternative is not an option, is it?  

Our minds carry the highest "rate of infection" from Corona, but God sends us a fresh olive leaf (of hope) today to bring us a balm of healing, to our hearts and minds.  God brings us a peace that the world (or any cure) cannot compete with.  Only in Christ is there HOPE.  And we can have hope for tomorrow and for a return to ourselves and a more normal schedule and routine.  

The Corona waters will recede, and we can trust in that promise and hope from the Lord.  

Is "hope" something you haven't given much thought to lately?  Well, living in Corona-times without hope will drive you cuckoo.  Let's recap a few verses sharing what God says about "hope":

The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy. ~Psalm 147:11

For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off. ~Psalm 23:18

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. ~Jeremiah 17:7

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I hope in Him!”  ~Lamentations 3:24 

We have to stop going cuckoo!

We may still be in the stage of popping our heads in and out to check for Corona clearance, but today the Lord sends us a (symbolic) dove with a fresh olive leaf in its beak (Genesis 8:11).  The olive leaf of hope.  

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com


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