We will leave the question of why this is happening and what God wants to teach through it to another day. For today I want to simply address the question of: Why should we be glad as Christians that God is sovereign over it?
I could give many reasons, but will restrict myself to just three:
It makes our prayers worthwhile
If God was not sovereign in this, then what would be the point of praying to Him about it? It might make us feel better for doing it, but is that all prayer was given for? Of course not! Prayer was given that we might plead with the God with whom “nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37), the God who is able to do “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20).
I hope that, like me, when you come to pray about this situation, you come with a real expectation that God will not only hear you pray, but act in response to it! This He can do because He is sovereign over it.
It means we can trust God’s promises
God has made so many amazing promises in His Word that are as relevant and precious today as the day when they were written, but if God were not sovereign over this, what stops this virus preventing God from fulfilling those promises? His promise never to leave you (Heb 13:5), His promise to work all things together for your good (Rom 8:28), His promise to not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can endure (1 Cor 10:13), His promise that Jesus Christ will return in glory (Acts 1:11) and so many, many more.
It is only because He is sovereign in this, as in everything else, that we can with confidence hold onto these promises and live our lives in dependence upon them.
It means that we have someone to trust in
You will know how much I love Psa 20:7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
I try to always live my life on that verse, BUT if God is not sovereign over this, what am I trusting in? a God who may not be able to help when I need Him most!
Praise God we have politicians working to control this, doctors and nurses striving to help those who are suffering because of it, scientists who are working to find a vaccine and a cure for it, manufacturers who are making equipment to help us handle it, but ultimately there is only one who is sovereign over it and can therefore be trusted without reservation – YAHWEH: the God of the Bible!