Masks or no masks: how to know the difference between being protected by God, and going against his protection in foolhardiness
A major question for most Christians is "How do I know if I'm doing God's plan under the protection of God, or going against His plan and protection?"
In all times, but especially in Covid times, this is a question many people grapple with.
There are many examples in the Bible where God has made a plan and revealed it to a person or group of people, who can choose to either go with God's plan or not.
Going with God's plan offers His divine protection during the plan. By contrast, going one's own way does not offer this divine protection, because no protection is needed since the person isn't participating in the plan. Being unprotected does not necessarily mean the person will drop dead there and then, but it means they will be much more susceptible to attacks from Satan.
One example of both aspects of this situation is when the Israelites went out of Egypt. The Israelites spied out the land which God had made it clear that it was his will to be their land. In this scenario, they would have succeeded in taking over the land since God would have protected them. However, the Israelites saw there were giants in that land, and this caused some of the spies (but not Joshua and Caleb) to become fearful. Those spies gave a bad report about the land to everyone. Joshua and Caleb spoke out and told the truth:
And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the Israelites, “The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only, do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” But the whole congregation threatened to stone them.
Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites.
Numbers 14: 6 - 10
Here you can see that Joshua and Caleb understood that God would protect them from the inhabitants of the land and that they should not fear them. The rest of the congregation, despite knowing it was God's will for them to be in that land, were too fearful to go there. God would have protected them if they had gone there, since it was part of His plan for them to go there.
How does this relate to today and the coronavirus? I have noticed by looking at live feed of the Prayer March 2020 and of broadcasts of church services at the church we normally attend, that some Christians are not wearing masks. I wonder why? Maybe some Christians seem to feel that not wearing a mask is a mark of faith, that God will protect them from the virus. But did God actually tell them that? If God told them that, then I certainly won't argue the point. On the other hand though, if people did not hear that from God but simply interpreted it this way on their own (i.e. they assume that they are acting in accordance with God's plan when they go maskless) then they are foolishly putting themselves and others at risk.
In the Old Testament, there are numerous accounts of guidelines for people to isolate themselves when they have a disease that may be contagious. It was emphasized quite strongly in the Old Testament to take precautions in terms of germs, cleanliness, and so on. It was not phrased in those words, since germs were not understood by the community at a scientific level yet, but the guidelines that God gave his people had the effect of stopping transmission of germs. This included doing things like burning cloth that had mold growing on it, and so on. It seems that God did not desire for germs to move through communities.
Let's look at another angle in the Scriptures where Satan tried to tempt Jesus into foolhardiness:
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Matthew 4: 5-7
Jesus knew that God would save him if he purposefully threw himself down (since Jesus was a big part of God's plan), yet Jesus also knew from the Bible not to put God to the test. In other words, Jesus did not need to prove his faith to Satan, and neither do we.
It's ideal to act in faith in the decisions we make, but that act should be something we are doing for God, not something we are doing to prove something to other people. If we do happen to prove something for others in doing so, that's wonderful. But that shouldn't be the reason for doing it.
So, by not wearing masks, are some Christians today going against God's wishes? I don't know, because I'm not everyone else, I'm just me. I don't presume to know what God has told other people. Based on my own reading of the Bible, I wear a mask out and about.
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