Message From The Headmaster- March 17th, 2020

Dear Veritas Families,

Grace and mercy of our God to your families!

We began the Faculty Training meeting this morning with a meditation on Psalm 11. I want to share the same message with you.

“In the Lord I take refuge” (v.1): This is our prayer. Our cry. Amid a worldwide pandemic, this ought to be our prayer. Why? Because we are tempted by what follows next in the verse.

“How can you say to my soul, Flee like a bird to your mountain’s” (v.1b). In a crisis like this, we are tempted to be overcome with fear and to flee “like a bird.” But whether we take refuge in our Lord or flee to our own comfort zone is no small matter. It has to do with everything.

“For behold, the wicked bend the bows, If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” This is ultimately a spiritual battle. “Wicked bend the bow” reminds me of the creaking sound of the bows of the army of the Orcs, just before the battle of Helm’s Deep. Satan is aiming at destroying our foundations, our faith in God. Satan is very smart. He knows where to hit the foundations. If he destroys our faith in God, he knows everything else a God-glorifying civilization and culture will crumble.

But as the history attests, the worst of times can be the best of times, for those who look to God. David, in this Psalm, looks to that God. God who is sovereign.

“The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyelids test the children of man.” God is ultimately behind the Coronavirus. He is not the author of evil, but he allows it to happen to test the children of man. He is waking us up from our deep spiritual slumber. It’s going to take something strong to jolt us out of our spiritual slumber of self-reliance, materialism, and oblivion to God of creation and history.

“The Lord tests the righteous, let him rain coals on the wicked” These are times of reckoning. God is judging. Consequences for the righteous and the wicked.

“For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.” But it is not too late. God saved those who looked to him during the time of Noah’s flood. God saved those who looked to trusted him during the ten plagues of Egypt. God will save those who look to him during the Coronavirus pandemic. But beholding his face is not just asking God to save us. It is making God the very object of our safety, joy, and peace.

Obvious application to education is that if the goals of parenting our children is anything less than leading our children to make God the object of their refuge, joy, and peace, it is a great time to wake up from our slumber.