Looting artifacts in a pandemic: Reframing spiritual adversity as opportunity

One of my great joys is leading
study tours to the Holy Land. In fact, I would be there now except for the
pandemic.

Much of what we see in Israel
has been made available to us by archaeologists who work with remarkable
fortitude and expertise to bring the past to the present. The artifacts they
discover are obviously unique and irreplaceable.

This is why I read this story with such anger and dismay: smugglers are using coronavirus lockdowns to pillage archaeological sites and sell their finds on online black markets.

Restrictions in response to the pandemic have left archaeological sites, museums, and similar locations with less protection. And the economic downturn is making more people desperate. One looter even posted a video of himself robbing a tomb recently.

Reframing spiritual adversity as opportunity

One of the tragedies of this
tragedy is the way it is leading to other tragedies. Some patients suffering
from non-coronavirus problems are apparently not going to hospitals for
treatment, which is obviously dangerous for them. The economic devastation
resulting from the virus is affecting everyone.

We are fighting a war on many
fronts.

There is a spiritual warning
here: our spiritual enemy delights in using adversity to spawn greater
adversity. He tempts us to turn from God at the very time when we most need to
turn to God. When we are sheltering in private, he tempts us to commit private
sins.

Such malice is true to his nature: “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

Our enemy cannot attack the
Father, so he attacks his children.

As a result, it is even more
vital that we stay close to our Lord in these days. One way is to…