Speaking life to the nation
Published Aug 26, 2020 04:33 pm
OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT
Diwa C. Guinigundo
Very recently, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra was quoted as saying that the IATF is alarmed by the country’s rising suicide rate. He urged religious leaders to help address this increase which is linked to the pandemic and the havoc it has wreaked on human activities, businesses, and jobs.
As early as April, 2020, public health, psychiatry, and psychology experts warned that social distancing could have “adverse outcomes on suicide risk.” Social distancing means social isolation, reduced access to community and religious support, and restricted family visits. Experts cite lack of connection to family and friends as a suicide risk increased by a hopeless sense of isolation. Imagine the impact of being alone in a health facility’s COVID wing!
Suicidal thoughts can also be propagated when one fails to access regular community and religious activities, now restricted by lockdowns. If only our public health care system was stronger, if we could only flatten the epidemiological curve, these restrictions would have been lifted by now.
Our friend, lawyer Carlo Llanes Navarro, who was among the first COVID-19 patients and survivors in the Philippines, shared his experience of being in an isolation room for weeks. He was Patient No. 4. Prayers and constant daily engagement with his family and close friends through phone and video calls gave him the stability, hope, and determination to fight the disease.
Economic stress makes matters worse for many.
The fear that community quarantines would shut down factories, plants, offices, malls, and restaurants were justified. We are in the deepest economic recession in 30 years. Public transportation is limited. On-line shopping, more delivery services, and other emerging new products and services were not enough to prevent the Philippines from sustaining two quarters of economic decline averaging 9.0 percent.
Many have lost their jobs and income. Hope further sinks as unpaid bills and demand letters pile up. Even those who invested in the equities market are not exactly immune to despair. Some have, in fact, lost their shirts.
The justice secretary’s point is not unfounded as we continue our uphill battle against COVID-19 and all its effects. His exhortation to the Church is extremely urgent. The impact of the pandemic that experts believe could last for months or even years, creates a trauma of the mind and the spirit that will not easily go away. Some medical studies also indicate that manifestations could peak much later. We are in a situation that easily breeds hopelessness.
Secretary Guevarra’s appeal reminds us of the Prophet Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones in the Scriptures.
Whether those dry bones would live, Ezekiel left it to the Lord to decide. God instructed Ezekiel to prophesy over dry bones and he did. Ezekiel 37:4-6: “...O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover your skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
Church leaders should heed the call of government and their ministries, and close ranks. As shepherds of the flock, they can stand in the gap and legislate in the heavenlies by prayer and supplication.
The first order of business for Church leaders is, like Ezekiel, to speak life to the nation. Now that group worship is disallowed, the Church has a broader platform and larger audience through social media. Preaching should focus on raising hope that this pandemic would finally end, as wisdom is released to those who make and execute health policies and protocols. Prayers can be directed to those devastated by the virus in both mind and body, so that deliverance may come.
Our health authorities may have failed to flatten the curve, but indeed God can do the rest. We may have blown the chance at charting a good strategy and executing it with great impact, but God has a way out.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God assured Solomon that “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” In Job, the Scripture assures that if believers declare a thing, it shall be done unto them.
This is a great deal for those afflicted with COVID-19 and to those in despair. A strong declaration of God’s compassion upon the sick in both mind and body will avail much. It can make a difference.
This is speaking life to dry bones. It calls for sinews, flesh, and skin to come upon them. It calls for a breath of life. Speaking life to dry bones prioritizes health and life over business and economic activities.
Ezekiel did not only speak physical life unto the dry bones. He also spoke hope to them, “And I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” Eze. 37:14a."
It is not enough to mitigate the propensity of the sick, the fearful, and the impoverished to end their lives. Hope can be declared. The Church must also stand, pray, and work for national healing and transformation.
Like John the Baptist, the Church can implore the king and call for righteousness in the land. It can call for decency. It can encourage public officials to set aside their personal agenda to restart the economy. Bad governance as well as corruption in public service are all within the realm of possibilities for God’s intervention. Quick economic bounce back is possible only when public policy is sensible, credible, and is owned by civil society.
If the people of God, as in the days of Joseph, David, Daniel, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel could touch the heart of God and change the prophetic destiny of their nation Israel, there is no reason why this cannot be done today in the Philippines.
Integrating COVID-19 patients into the spiritual mainstream will provide them a sense of community and a support group to help them through their challenge. Bringing the people as one nation into close fellowship with God is more daunting but it is a kind of nudge that is “most likely to help and least likely to inflict harm.”
We have faith that healing and life will come unto the dry bones of our land and our people. God in Ezekiel 37:14b categorically declared: “I have spoken, and I will do it.”
“Suicide Mortality and Coronavirus Disease 2019—A Perfect Storm?” by Mark A. Roger, Ian H. Stanley and Thomas E. Joiner, JAMA Network, April 10, 2020.
Diwa C. Guinigundo
Very recently, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra was quoted as saying that the IATF is alarmed by the country’s rising suicide rate. He urged religious leaders to help address this increase which is linked to the pandemic and the havoc it has wreaked on human activities, businesses, and jobs.
As early as April, 2020, public health, psychiatry, and psychology experts warned that social distancing could have “adverse outcomes on suicide risk.” Social distancing means social isolation, reduced access to community and religious support, and restricted family visits. Experts cite lack of connection to family and friends as a suicide risk increased by a hopeless sense of isolation. Imagine the impact of being alone in a health facility’s COVID wing!
Suicidal thoughts can also be propagated when one fails to access regular community and religious activities, now restricted by lockdowns. If only our public health care system was stronger, if we could only flatten the epidemiological curve, these restrictions would have been lifted by now.
Our friend, lawyer Carlo Llanes Navarro, who was among the first COVID-19 patients and survivors in the Philippines, shared his experience of being in an isolation room for weeks. He was Patient No. 4. Prayers and constant daily engagement with his family and close friends through phone and video calls gave him the stability, hope, and determination to fight the disease.
Economic stress makes matters worse for many.
The fear that community quarantines would shut down factories, plants, offices, malls, and restaurants were justified. We are in the deepest economic recession in 30 years. Public transportation is limited. On-line shopping, more delivery services, and other emerging new products and services were not enough to prevent the Philippines from sustaining two quarters of economic decline averaging 9.0 percent.
Many have lost their jobs and income. Hope further sinks as unpaid bills and demand letters pile up. Even those who invested in the equities market are not exactly immune to despair. Some have, in fact, lost their shirts.
The justice secretary’s point is not unfounded as we continue our uphill battle against COVID-19 and all its effects. His exhortation to the Church is extremely urgent. The impact of the pandemic that experts believe could last for months or even years, creates a trauma of the mind and the spirit that will not easily go away. Some medical studies also indicate that manifestations could peak much later. We are in a situation that easily breeds hopelessness.
Secretary Guevarra’s appeal reminds us of the Prophet Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones in the Scriptures.
Whether those dry bones would live, Ezekiel left it to the Lord to decide. God instructed Ezekiel to prophesy over dry bones and he did. Ezekiel 37:4-6: “...O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover your skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
Church leaders should heed the call of government and their ministries, and close ranks. As shepherds of the flock, they can stand in the gap and legislate in the heavenlies by prayer and supplication.
The first order of business for Church leaders is, like Ezekiel, to speak life to the nation. Now that group worship is disallowed, the Church has a broader platform and larger audience through social media. Preaching should focus on raising hope that this pandemic would finally end, as wisdom is released to those who make and execute health policies and protocols. Prayers can be directed to those devastated by the virus in both mind and body, so that deliverance may come.
Our health authorities may have failed to flatten the curve, but indeed God can do the rest. We may have blown the chance at charting a good strategy and executing it with great impact, but God has a way out.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God assured Solomon that “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” In Job, the Scripture assures that if believers declare a thing, it shall be done unto them.
This is a great deal for those afflicted with COVID-19 and to those in despair. A strong declaration of God’s compassion upon the sick in both mind and body will avail much. It can make a difference.
This is speaking life to dry bones. It calls for sinews, flesh, and skin to come upon them. It calls for a breath of life. Speaking life to dry bones prioritizes health and life over business and economic activities.
Ezekiel did not only speak physical life unto the dry bones. He also spoke hope to them, “And I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.” Eze. 37:14a."
It is not enough to mitigate the propensity of the sick, the fearful, and the impoverished to end their lives. Hope can be declared. The Church must also stand, pray, and work for national healing and transformation.
Like John the Baptist, the Church can implore the king and call for righteousness in the land. It can call for decency. It can encourage public officials to set aside their personal agenda to restart the economy. Bad governance as well as corruption in public service are all within the realm of possibilities for God’s intervention. Quick economic bounce back is possible only when public policy is sensible, credible, and is owned by civil society.
If the people of God, as in the days of Joseph, David, Daniel, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel could touch the heart of God and change the prophetic destiny of their nation Israel, there is no reason why this cannot be done today in the Philippines.
Integrating COVID-19 patients into the spiritual mainstream will provide them a sense of community and a support group to help them through their challenge. Bringing the people as one nation into close fellowship with God is more daunting but it is a kind of nudge that is “most likely to help and least likely to inflict harm.”
We have faith that healing and life will come unto the dry bones of our land and our people. God in Ezekiel 37:14b categorically declared: “I have spoken, and I will do it.”
“Suicide Mortality and Coronavirus Disease 2019—A Perfect Storm?” by Mark A. Roger, Ian H. Stanley and Thomas E. Joiner, JAMA Network, April 10, 2020.