It could be a random event – just one of those things. So God’s role would be to react to it.
It could be the work of Satan – who’s done this on his own initiative. Again, God’s role would be to react to it.
Maybe we could say that God knew it was gong to happen. But if he didn’t initiate it, he’s still left reacting to it.
In either case though, God does not seem to be reacting – the virus is still spreading.

And we’re in danger here of getting caught in the false dilemma of “God is either all-loving or all-powerful but he can’t be both”.

Others may say that God (if he exists?) is too distant. Not involved. “The earth is reminding us that we’re guests”. Some form of natural ‘cleansing’ is going on. Just more survival of the fittest.

But the Bible does not allow any of this. It is emphatic that God not only created the world, but continues to uphold it.
he upholds the universe by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3)
in him all things hold together(Colossians 1:17)

And nothing happens apart from his say so. For instance:
Psalm 135:5-6 
For I know that the LORD is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods.Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
Deuteronomy 32:39
See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me;        I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal;        and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Isaiah 45:7
I form light and create darkness;I make well-being and create calamity;I am the LORD, who does all these things.
Look at Job’s reaction to his sufferings.
They came in two ‘waves’. In a single day he lost possessions and family.
His reaction to the first wave was not to be angry with the Sabeans or Chladeans who had raided his property.
Nor to try to ‘speak against Satan’.
Rather he said (Job 1:21):
And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD ⁱgave, and the LORD has taken away; ^jblessed be the name of the LORD.”
He recognised that it was from God – and that God had the right to do whatever he wants.
After the second wave, where he was stricken with sores, his wife told him to curse God and die.
But his reaction was (Job 2:10):
“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”
And the Bible’s summary of Job’s response?
In all this Job did not sin with his lips
So bringing it back to the coronavirus outbreak.

It is my view* that the Bible indicates that God has brought this about. Because he is sovereign.
He reigns over everything – that’s every thing. His rule over his creation extends to the smallest detail.
That may make us feel uneasy – surely God is a God of love? Why would he do such a thing?
Well for one thing, he’s done it before:

God sent a three-day plague to wipe out 70,000 men after King David sinned by numbering the people of Israel (2 Samuel 24:10–17).

Amos prophesied that God would send several judgments against the nation of Israel, including plagues similar to what Egypt endured (Amos 4:10).

God sent several judgments against the nation of Judah, including a plague, when he sent King Nebuchadnezzar to sack Jerusalem (Jeremiah 21:7, 24:10, 29:17).

The plagues described in the Book of Revelation including those sent by the two witnesses (Revelation 11:6) and the seven final plagues sent by God (Revelation 15:1)

But mostly this has to do with the character of God. To be sure he is good and loving. Unfathomably so. He is also infinitely wise and infinitely powerful. And he is holy and he is righteous. And that righteousness demands a wrath against sin – which can be terrifying.

There is however, maybe surprisingly, great comfort in this.

Because in Christ, he took on that wrath on our behalf. See Romans 5
⁹Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
I read a quote a few days ago (which annoyingly I can’t find now!) which said something like ‘until we recognise who sent these events, we won’t cry out to him for deliverance’.

It means that ultimately we have no choice but to throw ourselves on God’s mercy. But that’s a secure place. Jesus promises that
whoever comes to me I will never cast out.  
(John 6:37)

Look at how Paul views this – Romans 8
³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
and

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,  “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That’s the confidence we need. Despite the list of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword – to which we could add pandemic – and even ‘being killed all the day long’, we are secure. We have to go through trials, but they can never defeat us.

Because God is sovereign. He is in control. Of the world and of our lives.

And he knows what he is doing – and despite the fact that we don’t, we can nevertheless trust him.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.(Romans 8:28)

*What I am writing in these blogs is my own personal view. There are others who share my view but  there are others who may not. I’m in no way attempting to win arguments or score points. Rather to share things that I have thought deeply about and have found to be a source of strength and comfort.

To go alongside my previous blog about Foundations, it’s important we know that the Bible is the Word of God.A recent post in FaceBook said this: “It is more crucial than ever that believers understand what the Bible is and what they can trust it wholeheartedly”.Absolutely.It’s probably the most important thing for us to know, otherwise we’re ‘tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine’. No absolutes, no certainty.

The Bible makes some strong claims for itself.
2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 
So how do we know?

Well here’s the line of reasoning I used in the Bible Series earlier this year:

The reliability of the New Testament documents is covered in many places. I’d recommend Josh McDowell’s ‘Evidence that Demands a Verdict’ as an excellent reference. (The topic is also covered in the first chapter of a free download on his website www.josh.org

So they contain a reliable record of Jesus’ life and sayings.
They reveal Jesus as no ordinary man – he performed miracles, which were described as ‘signs’ pointing to his identity.His life was the fulfilment of many Old Testament prophecies, impossible to stage manage. He claimed that he was equal with God – forgiving sins, having God’s authority, referring to himself as ‘I Am’ (the name of God in the Old Testament). The Jews at the time understood this and were incensed. He died and then came back from the dead.He was who he said he was.And he said that Scripture (at that time the Old Testament) is the very words of God. The writers of the New Testament recognised they were also writing Scripture.
So all of our Bible (Old and New Testament) is the Word of God.It is true and trustworthy – because of it’s source, and because that is how Jesus regarded it.
I can do no better than finish with a quote from John McArthur:

“Scripture is logical because God is logical. 
Scripture in non-contradictory because God is non-contradictory.Scripture is clear because God is clear. There are no errors, no discrepancies, no lies, no unsound truths, no fantasies, no absurdities, no inconsistencies, no myths. It is infallible. It is inerrant. It is true and it is to be understood by normal mental powers.” 

Thought I might start this blog as a means of capturing my thoughts as we all go through an unprecedented situation. This is a bit new to me as I’m not used to writing in this style – so if anyone’s reading this please bear with me!

I was speaking with someone the other day who was having some doubts about who Jesus was. I get that! When things around us look like they’re falling apart where do we go? And how do we know that whoever we turn to is going to be able to help? Aren’t they in the same place as us?
We went back to basics, and walked through a series of arguments/conclusions that I’d covered in the Bible series earlier this year. (Part of the TFW Equip series – podcast link here). And the inescapable conclusion is that Jesus lived, said the things attributed to him, died and rose again.  
We’re facing a world-wide crisis that we’ve not seen the like of before. Naturally there are going to be questions and doubts. Why is this happening? Where is God? Will he protect us? Can we trust him? And what are we to trust him for? How is my faith relevant in the face of losing my job, my health? And many more. 
Maybe it would be good to go back to basics. To remind ourselves of what we know to be true. 
In my series, we showed how we know that the Bible is the Word of God.

I’ll take that as a given, but I’ll put the content in another blog soon.
Meanwhile I’m interested in the big picture – how God gives us the explanation for the world we live in.

At the start, the Bible describes:

• A ‘very good’ creation. 
• With men and women being made ‘in the image of God’. 
• The first man and woman were given a paradise to live in. 
• They walked with God and they were free. 
• There was only one prohibition, and they chose to break it. 

A simple story, but one with profound consequences. The breaking of that prohibition demonstrated a rebellion. It’s been called ‘cosmic treason’. That’s because they chose to rebel against the infinite, perfect, creator, holy God who would have been perfectly just to destroy them on the spot.
But he didn’t.
He chose rather to let them live and send another to take the punishment.
But they were subject to a curse.
That curse brought death after a limited lifespan.
It damaged relationships – God and man*, man and man, man and himself
But is also damaged the whole creation – animals also die, there are now ‘thorns and thistles’, even the very ground is cursed.
This account is the very words of God. It is truth, which is true however we might feel.
So a key foundational truth here is that the world as we now know it is not how it was originally intended.
Death, disease, corruption are now features of our world.
But they are intruders. They will not last because God, who cursed the world, will also lift the curse. And that is an act of Love and Justice.
Love – because he has sent another to take the punishment for the crime.
Justice, because crimes have to be paid for.
Jesus’ death on the cross represents supreme love in taking the supreme punishment for the supreme crime. And his resurrection declares that the price has been paid. Death is now conquered. Now the curse can be lifted. 
The first man, Adam, was our representative, so by birth we inherit his cursed status. But Jesus can become our new representative by second birth, by faith. Whereupon we inherit his status as the Son of God.
Meanwhile we live in a world that is still waiting for the curse to be lifted. Which will surely happen. Until then it is a painful place. But understanding that surely helps us to live in it. Take a look at Romans 8:18-25

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For ^yin this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
There is a ‘glory’ yet to come. It will be even better than the original paradise – because even the threat of rebellion will have gone. It is certain – because it was God who placed the curse and it is God who lifts the curse. 
That brings us onto the Sovereignty of God – but that will have to wait for another one of these!
Meanwhile – we live in hope. Because it is a sure and certain hope we can live with confidence and therefore in peace. That doesn’t make it easy, and we have to be patient. And while we are waiting we continue to grow in our faith. 
John, in his first letter puts this into the context of our hope (1 John 3:1-3):
¹ See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. ³ And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Those in Christ are greatly loved. We have been brought into God’s family and can call him ‘Father’.

And for now, of course we have a great deal of practical issues to sort out. Of course we need to look out for one another and our neighbours.
But let’s also take time to go back to our foundations, to see the bigger picture, so we might be building our lives on solid rock.

* (I use the ‘man’ in the generic sense of men and women – it’s too hard to use neutral language!).