From the Pastor’s Heart OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
For quite a few weeks since the COVID-19, as I have listened to some people, including the president of the United States, mocking the disease, I have been itching to write a piece titled “the finger of God.”
However, before saying what I mean by the finger of God,” let me illustrate what I mean by “mocking the disease.” Some individuals defy the medical advice by showing their unwillingness to wear masks and follow the other protocols from the agents and agencies commissioned to advise how to fight against the disease. Now that the president and others who work in the Congress and the White House have caught the disease, it gives me more urgency to reflect on my theme “the finger of God.”
If at all you have forgotten where the phrase is written, let us take a look at Exodus 8:19, which reads thus: “Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.” (KJV)
The context of the phrase tells how the Lord directed two brothers, namely Moses and Aaron, to go to Pharaoh to ask for the freedom of the Hebrew slaves. Moses and Aaron went, but Pharaoh “hardened his heart” and would not let the slaves go. When Pharaoh was told that the God of the Hebrews needed his people to be freed, Pharaoh asked, “Who is this God?” He felt that his god had greater power than the God of the Hebrews or any other God. Thus God told Moses and Aaron to take their rod in hand and perform certain signs to convince Pharaoh which God was more powerful.
On four consecutive days, Moses and Aaron visited the palace to speak with Pharaoh:
1. On the first day, Aaron threw down his rod before Pharaoh and, it became a serpent. Pharaoh then called his soothsayers and magicians who threw down their rods that became serpents as well. However, Aaron’s serpent ate up the soothsayers’ and magicians’ serpents.
2. On day two, Moses and Aaron met Pharaoh on his way to the river Nile. There God told them to stretch out Aaron’s rod over the river and the streams, and the waters of the river and other waters turned to blood. Pharaoh called his magicians to do the same, and they did it. The waters of Egypt turned to blood until the Egyptians had to dig into the banks of the Nile to get water.
3. On the day third day, Moses and Aaron made another visit to Pharaoh, again they stretched out their rod over the land, and the dust turned into lice. The enchanters did the same.
4. On day four, Moses and Aaron visited Pharaoh, again, and told him that if he refused to release the Hebrews, there would be frogs everywhere, in the land – in the houses of his servants, in the palace, in the citizens’ beds, their ovens, and their kneading throughs, etc. Pharaoh refused, and the land was infested with frogs. Pharaoh again called in his magicians and commanded them to do the same. And while they tried, they could not replicate the miracle of the frogs. In their desperation, the magicians told Pharaoh that, “This is the finger of God.”
The failure of the magicians had no positive impact on Pharaoh’s mind. The scriptural comment is that “Pharaoh hardened his heart.” He became so hard-hearted that through the rest of the signs (called the ten plagues), he allowed for the devastation of the Egyptian economy and death of every firstborn in Egypt. After the death of his first born, Pharaoh became very fearful in so much that he called Moses and Aaron, commanded them to take the Israelites and leave Egypt, immediately.
As the Israelites were about to leave the borders of Egypt, at the Red Sea, Pharaoh regretted his decision, hardened his heart, thus, took his army and his chariots, and tried to overtake the freed slaves to bring back to the work kilns of Egypt. The end of the story is that “Pharaoh and his army were drowned into the Sea.” (cf. Exodus 14: 27-28; 15: 19).
In Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, we read, “Let’s kill all the lawyers” because the king thought if he killed them, he would preserve his life. In Macbeth, Shakespeare notes how Macbeth kills all the guards and everyone in his train who he considers his enemies, because he wanted to establish himself as king. What has happened during this COVID-19 pandemic has allowed me to reflect on the Shakespearean novels I have noted, but my reflection is more on the mixing of the story in the first signs of the Egyptian plagues, and what is happening during this COVID-19 virus.
If we make a mockery of a disease or the work of God, we will come to a moment when we have to admit that there are conditions beyond our wisdom to control or understand. One must ask serious questions such as: Where has the denial of the severe COVID-19 driven the United States? Where have the magicians, who offered their false promises and potions gone?
Quite a few of them, as we have seen, have now caught the disease, just like the 7.6 million who have been affected and the 212,000 who have died (as of writing this). Unfortunately, many (I mean, the aides, the secret service agents, the senators, and others) who serve leaders who are mocking the disease are now just like the servants of Pharaoh, who were caught in the plague of the lice and frogs (COVID-19) going into their houses. I also see that as the pandemic progresses, some of the mockers have no sense of humility. In fact, there seems to be a hardening of the heart of some of our leaders as it was with Pharaoh.
Maybe I have offered enough critique to those who think their magical arts are more effective than the “finger of God.” So, let me suggest to them, in fact, to all who read this reflection, that we need to join together in learning how to be careful about deriding the things that must be taken with utter seriousness. COVID-19 is not a joke. As the book of Proverbs reminds us, “Fools make a mock of sin.” (chapter 14:9).
That is, the “fool,” who acts based on ignorance, ridicule, resistance, rejection, and rebellion, or denial and defiance, will work toward their own deception and destruction. As it is said, a wise person is a good person, and a good person is a godly person. The fool is the intellectually feeble who is unwilling to use his/her brain-power or spirit of compassion to take necessary cautions – wear a mask, wash your hands, use all PPEs.
In effect, let us not be as fools. Let us listen to wisdom, as it is offered to us by the faithful scientists, and as it comes from the throne room of God. Let us not wait for God to raise his finger at us. If he has to do so, it will mean that we are under a judgment that we might not be able to overcome.
