Easy!

Hosea 12:6 But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.

There are times in life when things seem more complicated than they really are. Take reopening the economy following the stay-at-home orders. But this gets muddled when we forget the purpose of the stay-at-home directives. The purpose of these orders was to “flatten the curve” on infections. So let’s step back in time, way back, say two months ago.

As we watched Italy’s hospitals get overrun with patients and their death toll rise precipitously, our nation had to act. And we did. We began limiting the size of groups that could meet, and non-essential gatherings in an effort to slow the spread. We did this so that hospitals could ramp up their ability to care for patients. Who can forget the cry for ventilators!

The reality is that we have slowed the spread. That was the purpose of the lockdowns, to slow it enough so that the hospitals could be readied. They would have the same number of patients, just spread out over a much longer period of time. This would enable better care and possibly save more lives.

The lockdowns were not a cure. It was not the medicine to fix the virus and its devastating results.

But now we have another set of circumstances. People must work. They must make an income in order for our society to survive. And when this happens, more people will get sick. But now our hospitals have the capacity to cope with those who will get ill.

We have accomplished the goal of the stay-at-home orders and it is time to get back to work. Those who are particularly vulnerable need to continue to stay isolated. And those who care about them, including friends and family must keep them safe by not visiting them.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel was getting ready to go into Exile because of their rebellion. And the solution for their spiritual sickness was simple: Repent, do the right things and trust God. Simple.

They had been running away from devotion to the LORD only. They had been combining worship of the LORD with idolatry. Never a good combination. So the first step back is to abandon the false gods. They needed to change course, repent.

The second thing they needed to do was “maintain love and justice.” These were the pillars of the Law. So many of the individual laws were simply expressions of these two pillars: love and justice.

Loving kindness, especially for the weak and least of society is a hallmark of those who follow the LORD. Thousands of hospitals and orphanages have been opened and run due to the loving kindness of Christians around the world. They are carrying out this pillar.

The next pillar is justice. With the news concerning the lack of justice for some even in our government, we certainly can see what injustice looks like. But we are to be impartial in carrying out justice. We are to consider all of equal value and worthy of justice. There can’t be people taking justice into their own hands and gunning down others.

So as we try to love and exercise justice in an imperfect world, what are we to do when those around us don’t do love and justice? That is our final exhortation. We are to wait.

Now this waiting isn’t sitting around the waiting room outside surgery wondering what the outcome will be. This waiting is a fervent trust in the LORD. It is keeping Him the object of our trust. Unlike Israel who looked to Assyria and Egypt for help, we are to look to Him. He is to be the object of our gaze.

So you see, no matter where we are in relationship to the LORD, the outcome is secure. We just line up with His desires, do the right things and trust in Him to carry out His plan. We put hands and feet to His desires by how we live our lives, and we trust Him with the results.