God gave us brains to defeat COVID. Will 2021 be the year of science and reason?
There was a scholar who was also a wealthy merchant and learned in the study of Scripture. It happened that he once lost all his wealth and was reduced to poverty.
Yet Rabbi Leib paid no attention to this calamity and continued on with his studies of holy texts. His students asked, “How is it possible for you not to show the least amount of anxiety?”
The rabbi answered, “The Lord gave me a brain which thinks rapidly. The worrying someone else might take a year to do, I have done in a moment.”
With that fortitude, he transcended the pressure and anxiety of his own personal misfortune and stayed focused on what needed to be done.
Would it not be a blessing if we could overcome our worries, even though there are so many these days? Jobs and finances are bad enough, let alone the daily perils of avoiding the COVID-19 virus. The recent elections and the political drama we have all been watching or reading about only adds to our worries about the well-being of our country. Is there anything we can learn from this story of Rabbi Leib to sustain us in these difficult times?
First, we can think through issues and decide what fundamentals we need to use to stay the course when sailing through rough waters. We can be pragmatic and realistic, too. We can see light at the end of the tunnel with the beginning of vaccinations. There is reason for hope, but we have to come to grips with the truth that it will take more time and that we have to continue to take precautions by wearing a mask, social distancing and getting a vaccination. With fortitude comes a required dose of patience to withstand the anxiety and the continued inconvenience of the lifestyle we are living today.
God gave us a brain to trust in the science of public health. Science does not replace religious faith. They address completely different questions. God gave us a brain to do science!
God gave us the ability to use our brains to improve the world and to protect us from viruses like COVID-19, the HIV virus and many other viruses like polio. Follow the science and the odds are that we will find a pathway toward the lives we yearn to return to and to the people we have missed seeing over the last year.
God gave us a brain to discern between the false prophets and those who lead us to the truth. The Book of Deuteronomy tells us how the false prophets will show us all sorts of miracles and tell us all kinds of half truths that will mesmerize us, but the question is where is it all leading us? If the messages of modern day false prophets lead us to rejecting the humanity and the godliness of our world, then that brain God gave us should have the intelligence to reject that message.
It is completely understandable to worry about our own well-being. People standing in food lines and stressing how they are going to put food on the table have every right to worry. At the same time, too much worry can incapacitate the spirit and disable us to take action.
The brain which God gave us is the gift of being a human, and we have the inner strength and power to defeat anything which would threaten us and our well-being. That brain will sustain our fortitude and confidence to prevail against inner demons and those around us. Are we using it wisely?
Even the prophet Isaiah charged us in ancient times to use our brains for moral and spiritual well-being. His words ring even louder today. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
Yes, let us all reason together with the sense and wisdom God imbued us with at the dawn of creation, and we shall overcome! Let that be the theme for 2021. The year we reasoned together!
From my heart I wish a blessed Christmas to the Christian community in the Lowcountry and a Happy New Year to us all.
This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 3:13 PM.