God's plan for the lowly mask

1 Corinthians 1:27 states: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in His presence.”

Question: What weak, low and despised things in the world did God use to confound the so-called wise in the Bible?

Man made from dirt

Genesis 2:7 states, “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust (dirt) of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.”

Here we see that man was made from that which humans consider lowly, despised and dirty — the dirt we walk on; we wipe it off our shoes and our feet. We wash dirt off our bodies, clothes, food, pets and other things. The Bible tells us that man, all men, were first created by God, from the lowly dirt or dust from the ground that we walk on.

Isaiah 55:8 tells us “For my thoughts (God’s thoughts) are not your (our) thoughts, neither are your (our) ways my (God’s) ways, declares the Lord.” God does not think or act like man.

King David

In 1 Samuel 17, we read the story of a teenager named David and how he faced a giant by the name of Goliath, the Philistine champion, with his sling and a stone.

The Bible tells us that a champion named Goliath came out of the Philistine camp. Day after day, Goliath taunted and mocked the armies of Israel, exposing them, especially King Saul, as cowards. Goliath was about 8 feet 5 inches tall to 9 feet 2 inches tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor weighing between 150 and 200 pounds.

One day, David went to visit his brothers who were in the army of King Saul and overheard Goliath threatening King Saul’s men. David asked “What reward would the man who brings down Goliath receive?” He was told that King Saul would give great wealth to the man — his daughter in marriage — and the man’s family would be exempt from paying taxes in Israel.

David fought and killed Goliath, striking the giant on his forehead, using his sling and a stone. The stone sank into Goliath’s forehead. Goliath was brought down and fell face down on the ground dead.

Jeremiah 32:26 says, “Behold I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me?” David depended on God, a sling and a stone to bring down the giant.

Moses

In Exodus chapter 7-14, God tells Moses and Aaron to go to Pharaoh and to tell him to “let my people (the Israelites) go.” Pharaoh’s response was stubbornness; he refused to let God’s people go.

Moses and Aaron meet with Pharaoh to tell him God says “Let my people go.” Pharaoh refuses. Moses tells Aaron, his brother, to throw down the staff to show Pharaoh the power of God. Aaron throws down the staff and it turns into a snake. Pharaoh tells his magicians to throw down their staffs; their staffs turn into snakes. Pharaoh still refused to let the Israelites go.

God then tells Moses and Aaron to meet Pharaoh at the Nile River. God tells them to tell Pharaoh again, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness.’” Pharaoh again refused to listen. Moses took the staff and struck the River Nile and the river changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died. Blood was everywhere. Still, Pharaoh refused to obey God.

After seven days, Moses returned to Pharaoh and said “This is what the Lord says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me.’ If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country. The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs.” Again Pharaoh refused to obey the word of the Lord.

The Lord sent one plague then another: the plague of gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts and the plague of darkness. Pharaoh still refused to obey the Lord. Finally, God sent the plague on the firstborn.

Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.’” It was only when the plague of the firstborn was released that Pharaoh obeyed God and released God’s people, the Israelites. However, after the Israelites were released, Pharaoh changes his mind and follows them into the Red Sea as they were running away. God saves the Israelites, however, Pharaoh and his entire army drowned.

Here we see the power of the “lowly staff.”

Jeremiah 7:23 tells us, “I also gave them another command. I said, ‘Obey me. Then I will be your God. And you will be my people. Live the way I command you to live. Then things will go well with you.” NIV

Statue of a Poisonous Snake

Numbers 2 tells us that on the way to the promise land, the Israelites began to complain against God. What did God do? God told Moses to make a statue of a poisonous snake and set it on a pole, so that when the people complained against God, they would not die, if they looked at the serpent.

John 8:51 says, “Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.” NIV. When we obey God’s word, we are securing our place with Him both here on Earth and in eternity.

If God can make a man out of dirt, use a sling and a rock to bring down a giant, a staff to set thousands of Israelites free, save people’s lives bitten by poisonous snakes by having them look at the carving of a poisonous snake, then why can’t he use the “lowly mask” to contain (restrain, curb, suppress, subdue, keep back, hold in) dangerous, tiny particles released into the air that may contain the coronavirus?