Hosea Initiative
  • Home
  • Book/Curriculum
  • Imagine
  • Support Us
  • Endorsements
  • Get Involved
  • Request a Speaker
  • Gallery
  • Media
  • Our Team
  • Blog
  • Home
  • Book/Curriculum
  • Imagine
  • Support Us
  • Endorsements
  • Get Involved
  • Request a Speaker
  • Gallery
  • Media
  • Our Team
  • Blog

Hosea Blog

40 Days wandering in COVID-19’s “desert”

10 Comments

 
Picture


By Clare Ruff 


Derived from the Latin quadragenta, meaning “forty”, and the Italian quaranta giorni (“space of forty days”), the word quarantine is relational to the word Lent. No wonder COVID-19 is transforming my annual season of penance and sacrifice. I find myself identifying with the isolation of Israel in the desert, and wonder if their 40-year sojourn can help me conquer these 40 days of confinement with better insight and purpose. 

Their “social distancing” was not punishment, but an opportunity to “tryst” with God in the wilderness. The goal was not minimalistic conformity to God’s code of righteousness, but acceptance of the Ten Commandments as a covenant and guidepost to authentic freedom. 

Israel had become habituated to slavery after 430 years of captivity; it drove their actions, inactions and reactions. The rod of the taskmaster trained the people to act from fear. Israel’s desert isolation was the necessary school where they learned to choose: to commit to the Covenant, and discipline their unruly hearts in order to love God and each other freely. Slavery in Egypt was an outward sign of the inner reality of slavery to sin. God staged the Exodus to free His people from both. 

Eyewitnesses to the miraculous plagues in Egypt (Ex. 7-12), including the escape from death of their firstborn children, the Israelites responded with impatience, bickering, and infidelity. Remember: they saw the pillar of cloud before them, and a pillar of fire distance them from Pharaoh’s army. They watched every chariot and charioteer be swallowed by the sea (Ex 14: 15-30). 

But they panicked. They worried how they would eat and drink (as if their Deliverer would forget such a detail). Had there been toilet paper in those days, there would have been a rush on it! They murmured about missing their flesh pots, onions, and herbs! God dependably provided manna every morning, and every evening filled the camp with sufficient quail for the entire nation. But they complained, “Would that we were back in the land of Egypt” (Nu 14: 3). Many preferred the routine of slavery to the growing pains of freedom! 

While Moses prayed on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights, the Israelites faithlessly worshiped a golden calf made with their own hands, even after ten plagues exposed the inadequacy of all Egypt’s false gods. The Lord gave them every reason to be faithful! They lacked courage, fortitude and mostly love. 

So, what’s the point? 
Can we learn from their mistakes? Can we apply their experience to ours? I think so. 
The imposed “corona-cation” is a desert-like experience. Being isolated from each other and other nations can be approached as either an imposition or an opportunity to mature and deepen our relationship with God and each other. When denied our equivalent of “flesh pots and garlic”, we must depend on God’s providential care and exercise faith in the future promise ahead. COVID-19 and other calamities make us ponder why God is getting our attention! Is it to return to righteousness? Do we have our own “false gods” to shatter? “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts,” (Ps 95) encourages the psalmist. We have a unique chance to listen and respond. 

Personally, I cannot help hear the cry of our nation’s unborn children. The death toll from Coronavirus is currently 487 (US stat Mar. 23, 2020), compared to 3,000 killed daily via abortion. Where are the 24/7 news reports, White House press conferences, and stimulus packages for the children obliterated on the altar “choice”? 

And for those who may not be aware, another epidemic is sweeping our country, even more widespread than the current coronavirus. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there is an alarming, exponential increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Nationwide from 2014 – 2018, chlamydia increased 19 percent; gonorrhea rose 63 percent; primary and secondary syphilis jumped 71 percent; and congenital syphilis sky-rocketed 185 percent (see chart below). 

The World Health Organization (WHO) states, “Syphilis is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections globally, with approximately six million new cases each year. If a pregnant woman who is infected does not receive early and effective treatment, she can then transmit the infection to her unborn infant. This is known as ‘congenital syphilis’ which is often fatal. It can also cause low birth weight, prematurity, and other congenital deformities.” WHO’s findings, published February 27, 2019, state that globally, there were “more than half a million (around 661,000) total cases of congenital syphilis in 2016, resulting in over 200,000 stillbirths and neonatal deaths” (emphasis mine). 

I’d scratch my head--except we’re not supposed to touch our faces. 

In review: (CDC Statistics Updated March 23 at 1:50 PM) 

• USA COVID-19 : 41,126 confirmed cases, 487 deaths. 
• Global [minus China’s unpublished statistics]: 366,860 confirmed cases, 16,098 deaths. 
• The “pandemic” of congenital syphilis: 200,000 stillbirth and neonatal deaths (2016). 
Number of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States in 2018 
STD # of Cases Increase* 
Chlamydia 1,800,000 > 19 % Gonorrhea 583,405 > 63 % 
Syphilis 1st & 2nd 35,063 > 71 % Congenital Syphilis 
1,306 > 185 % 
* Percentage Increase from 2014 – 2018 

The CDC provides a downloadable pamphlet for physicians with recommendations regarding treatment of syphilis. It includes the following statement: “If sexually active, the surest way to avoid transmission of syphilis is to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and is known to be uninfected.” 
Appropriate social distancing could eradicate more than one disease with alarming growth and mortality rates. 

In the end, the Israelites revealed through its 40 year quarantine the secret to purposeful social distancing: do not distance yourself from God. I wonder if our nation will learn such lessons from COVID-19 over the next 40 days? 

Picture
Picture
Clare Ruff has a BA in Theology 
from University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX. She serves as Director of Events and Outreach for the Hosea Initiative and writes from her home in southeastern Minnesota. 
​
10 Comments
Marie Allen
3/25/2020 09:02:44 am

Thank you for this perspective. There are so many references to 40 Days in the Bible, but I had not thought of the 40 Days as it relates to the COVID-19 isolation. The facts about STD's are alarming. I will use my isolation time more in prayer.

Reply
Clare link
4/1/2020 06:59:39 am

Hi Marie:
Thank you for the comment and I'm glad to know the articles we are writing for Hosea is actually circulating. I appreciate your feedback and hope the blogs are inspiring as well as informative. That is our aim. Blessings! Clare

Reply
jenny delight
7/22/2020 06:28:11 am

EFFECTIVE AND PERFECT LOVE SPELL CASTER 
 My ex-boyfriend dumped me one week ago after I accused him of seeing someone else and insulting him. I wanted him back in my life again because i really love him but he refuse to have any contact with me. I was so confuse and i did not know what to do, so I reach to the Internet for help and I saw a testimony of how a spell caster help a woman from Scotland to get her ex back, so I contact the spell caster and explain my problem to him and he cast a spell for me and assure me of 2 days that my ex will return to me and to my greatest surprise the third day my ex came knocking on my door and beg for forgiveness. I am so happy that my love is back again and not only that, we are about to get married. Once again thank you Dr Jumba  . You are truly talented and gifted. Email; wiccalovespelltools@yahoo.com or wiccalovespelltools@gmail.com OR WhatsApp +1(908) 517-4108  is the only answer. He can be of great help and I will not stop publishing him because he is a wonderful man  BLOG : https://manifest277.blogspot.com/  

Nancy Nagel
3/26/2020 11:05:42 am

Clare Ruff - THANK YOU! This article is a brilliant comparison of the alarming increase of STD's to the COVID-19. I will be using it to inform those who are not aware.

Reply
Clare Ruff link
4/1/2020 07:08:16 am

Thank you Nancy for your kind comment. I was alarmed myself to see the statistics on STDs. In fact, the way that I found it in the first place was that I googled CDC + epidemic and found the syphilis data! It was intended to place the current pandemic in context/proportion to other worldwide crisis. While not diminishing the seriousness of COVID-19, my hope was that readers would assign a similar sense of urgency to epidemics that get ZERO consideration and news coverage. Blessings, Clare Ruff

Reply
Patricia J Kirchner
3/26/2020 12:18:11 pm

well written!! It gives me nausea to hear Pro-Choice Catholic politicians talk about the sacredness of human life and what the Holy Father has to say! What about what he has to say about the sanctity of human life in the womb??

Reply
Patricia J Kirchner
3/26/2020 03:58:13 pm

I also was intrigued by the article you linked us to about the 10 Plagues.

Reply
Clare Ruff
4/1/2020 07:20:14 am

The ten plagues was very informative!!! Yes, I wanted to hyperlink that and share with our readers. I better understood why THOSE were the particular plagues that came to Egypt, the Nile god and god with the body of a fly and cow head, the sun worship, etc. One thing that I newly realized is that the Israelites were "quarantined" to their own homes by the Lord on the night of the Passover. There were not to go out, for the "Angel of death" would pass over the city and take the life of the first born. I think it is helpful to make these comparisons. The current situation feels biblical, as if the Lord is speaking to us. The question we need to ask is, "What is He saying?" Blessings to you and your whole family! Clare Ruff

Clare Ruff link
4/1/2020 07:13:08 am

Hi Patty: Thank you for taking the time to comment! I think you've given me an idea for another blog on what so-called Pro-Choice Catholics (a contradiction in terms, right?) say on the sacredness of human life. I'm always struck by their rhetoric on how to protect children from abuse and wonder why the disconnect. But, it is blindness, value blindness, says Dietrich Von Hildebrand, one of the most brilliant philosophers of the modern age. Keep the comments coming! We love the dialog. Blessings, Clare Ruff

Reply
jenny delight
7/22/2020 06:28:54 am

EFFECTIVE AND PERFECT LOVE SPELL CASTER 
 My ex-boyfriend dumped me one week ago after I accused him of seeing someone else and insulting him. I wanted him back in my life again because i really love him but he refuse to have any contact with me. I was so confuse and i did not know what to do, so I reach to the Internet for help and I saw a testimony of how a spell caster help a woman from Scotland to get her ex back, so I contact the spell caster and explain my problem to him and he cast a spell for me and assure me of 2 days that my ex will return to me and to my greatest surprise the third day my ex came knocking on my door and beg for forgiveness. I am so happy that my love is back again and not only that, we are about to get married. Once again thank you Dr Jumba  . You are truly talented and gifted. Email; wiccalovespelltools@yahoo.com or wiccalovespelltools@gmail.com OR WhatsApp +1(908) 517-4108  is the only answer. He can be of great help and I will not stop publishing him because he is a wonderful man  BLOG : https://manifest277.blogspot.com/  

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Newsletter

    Archives

    January 2021
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019

    RSS Feed

Get Social:

PO Box 56, Lancaster, VA 22503
Email: info@hosea4you.org

Get Involved:

Request a Speaker
Donate

Credits:

This site was developed and designed by Melissa Adair and Taylor Elwell of Cyrinn Consulting.
​Icons provided by Jamison Wieser, ​Gregor Cresnar, and Lakshisha from the Noun Project.  Curriculum design by Christi Gifford, The Graphic Lady.  Book design  by Mark Almas.