Time to Whack Some Moles

    I feel like my life has become a very long game of Whack-A-Mole.
    Whack-A-Mole, if you don’t know, is a carnival game requiring the player to stand, holding a rubber mallet, before a board with holes in it. Fake moles (the animal kind, not the skin kind) pop out of the holes and the goal is to bop as many of them as possible in the allotted time. As the game progresses, the moles come out faster and faster.
    It’s all a bit stressful, but not as stressful as what I’m dealing with now as this Coronapocalypse seems to be relentlessly coaxing a nasty pack of bad-attitude “moles” up from the depths of my heart.
    Turns out I don’t like to be told I can’t go where I want to go, spend time with the people I want to spend time with, or buy what I want to buy. Hearing about people losing their businesses, jobs, and loved ones is both heartbreaking and scary. Imagining virus cooties lurking on every surface, just waiting for a chance to jump up my nostrils, is turning me into a neurotic germ-a-phobe.
    If I could summarize how I’m feeling in one word, it would be this: squeezed. And do you know what happens when you squeeze something? What’s inside comes out. Sadly, some of what’s coming out of my heart isn’t pretty. In fact, it seems like every time I turn around, I’m aware of another bad attitude, another “mole” I have to whack by confessing my stinking thinking to God and replacing those thoughts with His truth.
    As I’ve battled these “moles,” I’ve come to realize all my rebellious, anxious feelings and thoughts share a common root: a lack of trust in God.
    Why do I feel rebellious about all the rules we’re now having to follow? Why am I frustrated that my plans have been changed and my routine disrupted? Why do I feel anxious? Because I’m not trusting the sovereignty, character and promises of God.
    Is God in control? Does He love me? Does He keep His promises, including His promise to supply all my needs (see Philippians 4:19)? Yes, yes and yes. I talk about, write about, sing about, and counsel others to believe these things. But when the squeeze is on, sometimes I sadly realize that maybe I don’t trust God as much as I thought I did.
God uses things that are too big for us, like Covid-19, to expose our hearts. It’s not pleasant, but it is necessary, and God’s discipline is always and only for our good (Hebrews 12:5-9).
    The good news is that I don’t have to let rotten thoughts and misguided feelings be the boss of me. I can choose to place my trust in God and Isaiah 26:3 says if I fix my mind on Him, I can actually experience “perfect peace.” Why is that? Because focusing on how big God is puts everything else in perspective and reminds me that God is far from helpless in the face of any threat or evil. He’s sovereign over ALL.
    Jeremiah 17:5-8 presents a vivid contrast between someone who trusts in God and someone who doesn’t. After reading it, the question becomes this: Do I want to be a scrubby bush in the hot, barren desert, or a lush, fruitful tree by the water?
    Hmmm, I’ll choose the tree, please, which means I better pick up my mallet and get back to work. Who knew the “good fight of faith” would look so much like a game of Whack-A-Mole?
    ?“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ … .” – 2 Corinthians 10:5