The twenty-three encouraging selections in this short volume each comprise a daily devotional that discusses the teachings of specific psalms related to the challenges people face in the COVD-19 pandemic. Those lives the coronavirus has not taken it has upended. As the economy flounders and social distancing strains interactions in every setting of daily life, many, including Christians, begin to lose hope. How long will the pandemic last? What is God’s opinion of us? How can we continue to live out the Golden Rule? Does justice still exist? These questions weigh on many hearts. Yet splashes of beauty have sprung from the ugliness of catastrophe. People are returning to the Christian way of life in huge numbers, even if only out of desperation. Those unemployed are volunteering en masse to feed and care for others even less fortunate than themselves. Medical personnel daily endanger themselves, attempting to treat a highly contagious disease they might well contract. It might seem counterintuitive, but perhaps it would behoove people to sit quietly and simply trust that God is still near and still in control.

Each chapter in this timely book closes with a prayer for divine aid for the reader to understand the teaching presented and apply it to one’s life to the greatest effect. Passages of scripture are rendered in contemporary English for ease of understanding by a wider audience, including significant numbers of those new to the faith. Easterling phrases all his points gently, thus emphasizing the love, compassion, and overall goodness of God to his children amid hardships that seem overwhelming. Although dealing almost exclusively with the spiritual difficulty arising from COVID-19, there is also a section dealing with racial and economic injustice. Overall, the work never deviates from the theme of hope amid present struggles.

Return to USR Home