The COVID-19 pandemic created spiritual trauma that shattered people's certainty and left many trapped between faith and fear. For some it deepened trust in God, but for others it bred conspiracy thinking and constant vigilance for the next crisis. The speaker urges grounding in God's Word and the Holy Spirit's peace to heal these wounds.
It seems to me that ever since COVID people have been living with spiritual trauma, and it's warped their perspectives and even caused mixture in their faith. Think about it. Everything was fine. Things were normal. Suddenly, the rug was pulled out from everyone. Within a 2-week period, the world came to a standstill. Something big and global and life-changing, much like is seen in movies or read about in works of fiction, it actually occurred in real life. Some good came of it. Our eyes were opened to human weakness, darkness was exposed on new levels, and people learned to trust more in God, not systems. Yet some negative holdovers still affect the church today. People are stuck in limbo, waiting for something else big to happen, something that seemingly ties together all of the threads of what we went through, something that makes sense of those uncertain years. Some have even become more susceptible to a conspiracy theory mindset, After all, our sense of certainty, our belief in reality as we knew it, was totally shaken. So wanting to be ready for the next big upheaval, many have stayed living in this constant tension, this emotional and mental bracing for the next big wave of chaos. Will bad things happen? Yes. Is there evil in our world, even in high places? Of course. But for many, vigilance has become paranoia. Awareness has become obsession, and open-mindedness has become susceptibility to strange deception. So let's ground ourselves on the Word of God and in the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit. You can rest in him. Chaos will come and go. Darkness will be exposed and defeated. Patterns of human history will repeat until God's appointed time. In the meantime, live in the kingdom, righteousness, peace, And joy in the Holy Ghost. Stay focused on the Lord and on the work of his kingdom. Jesus came that you might have life and life more abundantly. So trust in God. No matter what comes your way, you can release your grip on what you imagine is control. Faith, not fear, must again become the driver of your life. Stop with the unholy mixture. Let God heal the spiritual and emotional trauma.
