March 2020 may have been the longest month in history. COVID-19 spread exponentially, but time slowed to a coronavirus-induced crawl. The month came in like a lamb, bleating feeble warnings. It ended like a lion, roaring with medical and financial crisis.

April seems likely to last every bit as long. The virus appears unabated, while guidelines restricting businesses and social interaction continue. Are these stringent measures having any effect in controlling the exponential spread of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus? God alone knows.

And he does. He knows when the viral and financial panic will pass and what wreckage will remain in its wake. He knows the heart of every person (Psalm 139), and may be using this time of panic and uncertainty to draw many people to saving faith. Those who truly believe need not fear. No one and no thing can snatch them from the Lord’s hand (John 10:28).

Although the world seems to spin out of control, we can take heart in knowing God is sovereign over people and events. He is sovereign over stock markets and earthquakes, over plagues of locusts and coronavirus. As financial mountains crumble and virus seas rage, we are forced to be still. May we all recognize that he is God (Psalm 46).