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 (Manna 94: Time to Reflect: Our Beliefs)
Reflecting on God’s Will through Viral Choreography: Becoming Job and His Friends

Meditating in the Field—Singapore

            He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you. (Ps 91:4–7)

As I reflected on these verses, I was into my fourth day of self-isolation. That day, I also became part of national statistics of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Sore throat, fatigue, headache, and body ache. “Get some food at the supermarket and go home to rest. Drink more water ah, ah-girl,” the doctor instructed. In my drowsiness, I nodded obediently, saluted him, and wondered how the old man before me could withstand the virulence of COVID-19 when seeing so many patients in a day. At home, drifting in and out of consciousness between bouts of coughing and throat pain-induced silence, I endured on. In the liminal space between life and death, my mind began to wander. Has God’s arm been shortened? Have I become one of the thousands and ten thousands that fell beside me? In theory, we should not fear, but in practice, we all do. Can the discrepancy between the Scripture and the number that reflects the reality of sickness and death be reconciled? Especially when the number also includes many who have been faithful to the Lord. [1] [2] My fragmented thoughts were intermittently interrupted by the screaming of ambulance sirens in the distance.

Since the pandemic outbreak at the end of 2019, the world has danced with the virus as it moves and mutates. People, capitals, and commodities that once circulated en mass around the globe came to a standstill. In April 2020, the densely populated city-state of Singapore implemented its first circuit-breaker (or lockdown) in an effort to curb the viral infection. Changi Airport, which once thronged with travelers, became eerily empty. Responding to the choreography of the virus, people put on masks, rubbed hands with sanitizers, washed hands, maintained safe distancing, and scanned their phones upon entering public spaces. Passersby walked briskly through the Central Business District along Orchard Road, gazing downward with anxiety perched on their brows. As the choreography of the virus evolved, people configured and reconfigured their gatherings of duets, trios, fives, eights, and finally, tens. At work and school, people coordinated in shifts of staggered arrangement.

COVID-19 is more than a pandemic of viral infection. It leads to other forms of physical, mental, sociocultural, and financial pandemics. From Delta to Omicron and its subvariants, I seek to reflect on God’s will through viral choreography. By allowing His people to dance with the virus, I ask, what does God want me to become? In what ways has God challenged my ingrained assumptions about Him and my relationship with Him? How has my understanding of Him evolved as a result?

UNDERSTANDING SUFFERING BEYOND THE DUALISM OF GOOD AND EVIL

Job emerges as one of the most studied biblical characters since the pandemic erupted. [3]  Our understanding of him, a human being made to undergo profound suffering, grows in complexity and nuance with increasing prevalence of Covid infection and reinfection. In the eyes of his friends, Job’s suffering is commensurate with his wrongdoing. Their reasoning is straightforward. Good deeds yield good; evil deeds yield evil. This principle has been taught to generations through the Mosaic Law, reinforced in King Solomon’s wisdom books, and reiterated in the prophets’ warning messages throughout the Old Testament. Even Jesus’ disciples reason in the same way. When meeting a man born blind, they ask Jesus if it is because of his sin or the sins of his parents (Jn 9:3). Judging by Job’s immense suffering, his friends conclude with certainty he must have erred in the eyes of God while still insisting himself to be righteous (Job 31).

Pre-pandemic, it was easy to fall into the thinking mode of Job’s friends. At the onset of the pandemic, stigmatization often followed those infected. We wondered to ourselves that perhaps their suffering was divine punishment for something they had done. However, as the virus continues to mutate, we take turns walking in the shoes of Job and his friends. In Singapore, at the time of writing, at least sixty percent of the population has been infected. People take turns to play the roles of the sick and the caregiver, the weak and the strong, the consoler and the consoled. Through this constant role-switching process, we gradually see Job with greater empathy. The figure of Job is no longer the distant Other. We are concurrently Job and his friends. We begin to understand that many reasons contribute to human suffering. The cause of suffering is far more complex than the simplistic dualism of good-yields-good versus evil-yields-evil formula. Suffering could result from multiple factors and agents from the material and spiritual worlds coming into interaction. Only God sees the entire picture and into the future.

SUFFERING IS EXTRA-ORDINARY

Suffering is an extra-ordinary experience. Though suffering is not uncommon, it is immensely significant to the sufferer. It disrupts the ordinariness of everyday life by throwing us off our usual rhythms and routines. Suffering disappoints, saddens, and deprives us. In life, we have expectations. For instance, we may envision the kind of school we want to study at, the kind of career path we want to take, the kind of family we want to build, and the kind of retirement we eventually want to enjoy. We may also expect to stay healthy and that our children will exceed our own accomplishments. When we go through an experience in life that confirms our expectations, it, in turn, reinforces the worldview that we hold. Yet when we undergo an experience that disconfirms our expectations, we go through stressful phases of denial and adjustment in which we alter our expectations and worldview. This psychological transition could last for years, decades, or even a lifetime and is well documented and studied in trauma research. [4]

Remember Job’s torrent of complaints? Yes, he is thinking aloud to figure out what went wrong. He is also readjusting his expectations in life and his relationship with God. In short, Job’s ordinary life is disrupted when suddenly deprived of wealth, family, and health. He is grappling with an extra-ordinary experience so much greater than him that he cannot comprehend, explain, or completely accept. It is difficult, if not impossible, to remain silent when much pain, bitterness, and disillusionment are pent up inside.

REMAINING SILENT AND PRAYERFUL IN SUFFERING

Yet silence is golden when in suffering. When eventually confronted by God, Job replies:

            Behold, I am vile;
What shall I answer You?
I lay my hand over my mouth.
Once I have spoken, but I will not answer;
Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.” (Job 40:4–5)

Similarly, in Jeremiah’s lamentation over Israel’s plight, he concludes:

            It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the LORD. …
Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him.” (Lam 3:26, 28)

When Paul suffers criticism from the church, he responds:

            But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ...Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. (1 Cor 4:3, 5a)

As human beings, we like the reassurance of clear and quick answers. They settle us with a sense of security. They guarantee that no further intellectual hard work or soul-searching is required on our part. In contrast, silence denotes indeterminacy and inconclusiveness. There is a lack of closure. Yet remaining silent is a powerful assertion of God’s absolute sovereignty. It is also the sufferer’s resolution to honor that sovereignty. 

What does God want us to do when in silence? In the depth of a pit, Jeremiah calls on the name of the Lord (Lam 3:55). He knows God does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men (Lam 3:33). When Jonah is trapped in the belly of a giant fish, he prays:

            Yet You have brought up my life from the pit. …
When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the LORD;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple. (Jon 2:6b–7)

After communing with God, Jonah returns to his mission. Similarly, Job’s conversation with God is a series of prayers that allows him to process his suffering. In the end, Job recalibrates his understanding of God and his own positioning. He professes, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5). Through trauma, denial, and finally re-comprehending his relationship with God, Job is released from his suffering.

WE ARE JOB AND HIS FRIENDS

If remaining silent and prayerful is God’s will for those in suffering, what then is God’s desire for those who keep their company? Job’s three friends are certainly on the right track at the start. They come together by agreement and visit Job with the intention of comforting him. In deep grief, they sit with him seven days and nights. No one says a word upon witnessing Job’s immense suffering. However, after hearing Job’s complaints, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar become judgmental. They take turns to expound on God’s justice. Their knowledge of God is unimpeachable. But none of them can identify the cause of Job’s suffering. Elihu, a young man who waits for his turn to speak, eventually becomes frustrated by all three of them because they condemn Job before they can even convince him (Job 32:3).

Through the viral choreography of COVID-19, God has shown us we can be Job or his friends at any point in time. With the help of historical hindsight recorded in the Bible and through the study of psychology, we could argue that Job is going through a transition process after a major trauma. If it is God’s will for an individual to go through a period of readjustment, those surrounding him or her are in no place to come to their own conclusions. At this juncture, Job needs his friends’ presence, prayers, food supplies, and access to daily necessities. Their company and prayers are to spiritually uplift Job in overcoming the extra-ordinary experience he is going through. The friends provide food and daily necessities to maintain the ordinary routine of Job’s everyday life, which would make him feel grounded. If we refer to Brennan’s socio-cognitive model of transition in Appendix 1, where would you place yourself in the diagram as a friend? If you were Job, where would you like to place your friend? Take out a pen and draw yourself into the diagram. 

By dancing with the virus for the last three years, we come to understand that we can be Job or his friends at any given point in time. When we are Job, remaining silent and prayerful is golden in times of trials and tribulations. When we are his friends, God requires us to bring comfort—through our presence, prayers, non-judgment, and provision of food and daily supplies.

Appendix 1:

Figure 1: Adapted from Social-Cognitive Transition Model of Adjustment (Brennan 2001)



[1] Jia Li Liao, “Please Give Me Understanding” [Mandarin], YouTube, sermon, October 29, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNsk-cPpgoI.
Jia Li Liao, “Heart of a Servant, Hope of a Child” [Mandarin], YouTube, sermon, October 29, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/live/SmeYxt2AMr8?feature=share.
The speaker delivered these sermons after his wife’s sudden passing due to COVID-19.
[2] Wen Ji Wang, Su Hui Liao, and Ming Wei Yang, “Missionary Films Himself Counting Fire Trucks” [Traditional Chinese], Yahoo! News, July 1, 2021, https://tw.news.yahoo.com/傳教士直播數消防車-以為自己能獲救-201000987.html
[3] Timothy Yeung, “A Failing Comforter,” YouTube, sermon, November 22, 2022, https://youtu.be/8rrctxOsiRg.
[4] J Brennan, “Adjustment to cancer – coping or personal transition?,” Psycho-oncology 10, no. 1 (January/February 2001): 1–18.
James Brennan offers us an insight into the different stages of suffering from a psychological perspective. See Appendix 1 for visual reference.

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Publisher: True Jesus Church
Date: 05/01/2023
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