It is Christmas Eve as I write this post. I am hoping that all who subscribe to Attempts at Honesty are well in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis.

While I suspect that the crisis has been sensationalized by news outlets, it is a very real problem that has changed all of our lives. How permanent those changes will be remains to be seen.

But, one of the troubling aspects of the response to COVID-19 is the assumption that those who govern are responsible to fix the problem. We have given up personal freedoms on the promise that if we surrender complete, or nearly complete, control to the governing authorities, we will be safe and much good will result.

Certainly, I believe that government has a role to play in keeping us safe, but I also think that there needs to be caution in placing too much trust in the ability of governing authorities to solve such a massive problem.

The psalmist reminds us:

“Do not trust in nobles, in a son of man, who cannot save.”

Psalm 146:3 (CSB)

During this Christmas season, we celebrate the arrival of Emmanuel, God with us. On that first Christmas, the glory of God broke into our world in the form of a baby in a feeding trough.

That baby grew up to be a man who made the claim to be truly God with us. That claim, if true, should cause us to look to him, not to our government, not to a vaccine, for our ultimate support in this crisis.

In this Christmas season, disrupted as it is due to COVID-19, I hope that there will be a fresh infusion of the understanding of the glory of that baby in the manger.

A crisis such as we are experiencing strips away the illusion that we have everything under control and should cause us to look to the one that actually has that control.

It turns out that surrender, not to a human government, but to Emmanuel, God with us, is actually the best solution. That is my wish for myself, my family, my community, my country and my world.

Merry Christmas!