Real Cause of Uneasiness and Unrest During Lockdowns

We're on the 5th month of quarantine, almost 6th, and uneasiness and unrest among people are becoming more pronounced. You see them on FB and in the streets looking for ways to make noise--or do anything to fight the stress of uneasiness, of being kept in the house for months doing and amounting to nothing, and especially without accomplishments. [Image by Niek Verlaan from Pixabay].

In short, bored.

Some people want to protest and go out in the streets for rallies. Churches want to open and enjoy their usual Sunday thing. Everyone wants to go live streaming or showoff their worship service. Governments are doing all sorts of funny rules and guidelines. Self proclaimed "experts" are out on Facebook challenging every post and giving the best advice on Covid 19 and politics. Others are dead serious about fighting for the rights of the rich whose network has just been closed by government.

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This is the problem when so many people are joiners. They feel they have to join something or do something. It's okay to join movements or protests once in a while (some protesters are authentic indeed as some worshipers in church or online are), for the right reasons and timing, but often the best option is to relax, "be still and know I am God." God can never be out of good plans or caught by surprises. Everything that happens has already been planned for before the creation of the world. So just shut up.

The real force behind these activities is mostly boredom. Not all but mostly. They may claim it's an urgency or mission. But really, they're just too bored.

I was in a meeting of pastors days ago and I heard one top pastor express his "depression" the first 3 months of the lockdown. He was kept indoors that long unable to do his usual routine--speak to churches in different places--which caused his depression but which later helped him realize how it was a golden time God provided for family bonding. He realized then how family was a real ministry, too. 😂

See what I mean? They're just too bored. Bored of what? Bored of being away from the limelight, bored of not being seen actively on stage, doing feats and achievements, and enjoying people's applause. Bored of not being relevant anymore. When they're kept indoors a long time, they suffer stress. So, it's actually fear--fear of becoming irrelevant.

I can imagine how Moses felt like. After years of being so productive and popular in Egypt (he thought he was productive there), he was sent to the wilderness for decades to tend sheep and goats. He was "locked down" there to make him realize all his "achievements" in Egypt were nothing. Zero. Nada. Pfft. That's what lockdowns are for--to make us stop and ponder deep within ourselves, not look for something important to do. We always have this illusion of being important and great.

When he finally got the point that he was nothing, God released him. From prince to shepherd. God made sure he had a shepherd mindset (shepherds were looked down then for being the lowest, servile job there was. Parang dyaryo-bote, kung baga)--that he couldn't do anything. God had to convince him that with God he could.

Even Jesus emptied himself and took the form of a servant. This means for 30 long years he was quietly just enjoying his private meets with the Father, even though at the time human rights violations were also happening left and right because Israel was under a cruel imperialist. Neither did he get bored or uneasy or restless. Why? Because he knew exactly what the plan was. 

You only get bored when you're lost and confused like Martha was. So you try to get busy. If you really have God in your life, nothing can bore you. Every second is productive even if you're kept exiled doing or achieving  nothing in Patmos. But if you don't know what God is up to at the moment, you'd be restless, finding something to do, like Peter was during the Transfiguration.

Thirty long years of quiet preparation for 3 years of ministry that ended up in death like that of a criminal. Jesus didn't seek to become great through his ministry. Can anyone do that today? Quietly do the ministry, with the Father alone making all the noise through supernatural signs and wonders (not man's efforts and gimmicks)?

Jesus was not a joiner. He didn't do the things that was trending in his days.