When faced with life’s greatest difficulties, we suddenly become very small before God. Any Christian who has had their life rocked by the tragedy of illness, death, relationship, or financial ruin knows this well. God always gives us a divine perspective when the chips are down—if we are willing to learn. In John 4:43-54, a man of high position and prestige suddenly finds himself humble and helpless before God. His son was dying, and there was nothing at all he could do. He comes to Jesus, literally begging him to do something he was powerless to do for himself.

This man had the power to do many things. But there are many things over which we are all powerless, and we would do well to remember that.

When we become small before God, He becomes greater. That does not mean that there is any change in God in any way. He is always greater, we just gain perspective. We see Him as He is, and we see ourselves as we really are—helpless and hopeless apart from Him. It’s not that we have become any less powerful, or that God has become any more powerful, we simply see reality. We see things as they always are: God is big, we are small.

I’ve thought a lot about this, given the worldwide pandemic of 2020. It has been vital for me to keep things in the proper perspective and see this crisis from the lens of Scripture.

A passage of Scripture that beckons me continually is Isaiah 40. I live there often, for it grows my faith and puts me in my place before God. It elevates our Lord to the heights of power for which He deserves worship and obedience. It tells it like it is. And it encourages us in the face of what only appears to be a situation out of control.

In Isaiah 40, we see the foreshadowing of many themes from the book of John: forgiveness, John the Baptist, the Gospel, the Eternal Word, the Messiah, the Spirit of God, true worship, and God’s power (and much more). In fact, God’s power and greatness are really the overarching themes of Isaiah 40. The chapter begins, "'Comfort, O comfort My people,' says your God” (vs.1). God promises comfort to His people because of His infinite power and greatness. That promise is ours today.

When we look at all that is happening in the world against the backdrop of God’s sovereign power, we become very small before him.

Here are some examples:

13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord,

  Or as His counselor has informed Him?

14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?

  And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge

And informed Him of the way of understanding?

The expected answer? No one. God does not consult any worldly power for anything. God alone possesses these things, and He is to be consulted.

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

  And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;

  Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,

  Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are as nothing before Him,

  They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

Did you ever wonder where the phrase “drop in a bucket” came from? Here it is. It comes from this verse in the Bible. But notice the size and majesty of God compared to all the nations of the world. There is no comparison. They are nothing compared to Him, they are less than nothing and meaningless.

23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,

  Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

24 Scarcely have they been planted,

  Scarcely have they been sown,

  Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,

  But He merely blows on them, and they wither,

  And the storm carries them away like stubble.

And all the prominent rulers of the world—governors, presidents, prime ministers, kings? If the nations are less than nothing compared to God, so are the rulers of this world. A mere breath from His mouth and they disappear from sight.

Yet, despite this reality, mankind has paraded his power throughout history and resisted the God who made them. It has been this way throughout history, and it is certainly true today.

When we see reality from Isaiah 40, we see the flimsy foundation of our world. The pandemic has been a worldwide event that has brought nations to a screeching halt. How weak we are.

We also see that the power of mankind is puny and laughable compared to God. We understand the real fragility of life, the folly, and the smallness of men. Still, rulers see themselves as god-like and become drunk with power. God is not impressed, and neither should we be.

In all this, we should be praising God for His grace. In His sovereignty, He has not allowed the Coronavirus to unleash its full fury. The dire predictions have been proved false. Even children have been mainly spared. This should be fantastic news, but good news gets little press these days. God is to be praised for this, rather than giving the glory to men.

The story of the Royal Official’s son demonstrates God’s grace to this man and his child. We know a bit of the nature of his son’s illness, a deadly fever. Fevers, even today, can be indicative of severe illness in a child. In his day, the mortality rate of children who fall ill would have been extremely high. And so explains the urgency of the royal official. Yet God spared his son as he humbled himself in faith before Jesus and His unlimited power.

All of this should grow our faith in the greatness of God. One thing I frequently see regarding the Coronavirus is “Facts not Fear.” For us, it should be, “Faith not Fear,” for we are never to be people of fear but faith. The actual facts are hard to come by, except when it comes to the true nature of God, as described in Isaiah 40. We should never fear man, nor should we fear illness, or death itself.

At the beginning of the lockdown, I encouraged you to read Psalm 46. It, too, is a source of great comfort. Now, I encourage you to read Isaiah 40. Read it repeatedly, read it prayerfully, read it faithfully. By that, I mean read with faith to live above the fray, above the fear, small yet victorious in the greatness of our infinitely powerful God.

Yet those who wait for the Lord

Will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.

Isaiah 40:31