This was a long week for everyone for various reasons. It was a long week at the end of a long month in the midst of a long year. Giving up, throwing up our hands, or giving into depression isn’t an option. As women, we set the tone in the home more than anyone.
I’m writing this today to encourage each one of us to buck up for the sake of our loved ones. More than encourage you, I’m here to give us all a kick in the rear end. We might feel tired, overwhelmed, discouraged. or fearful. So much doesn’t make sense. But we cannot control any of that. We can only control what happens in our homes and our response to life around us. In the midst of these difficult times, we’re responsible for walking with Christ, praying, and loving those God has entrusted to our care.
Giving up isn’t an option. Giving into our fears isn’t an option. Allowing our emotions to spill over and harm our loved ones isn’t an option. I don’t know who needs to hear these things today, but someone does. I had no plan to write this post today, but here we are.
We’re not the first people to go through difficult times. We’re not the first people to face war, pestilence, or failed leaders. We’re not the first people to witness apostasy in the church. We’re not the first people to witness betrayal, lies, and treason. We’re here today because our ancestors survived some of the worst things that have happened on the earth.
If you want a sobering read, consider this from Black Death and Abrupt Earth Changes in the 14th century. I found this article while doing research about Grand Solar Minimum.
Death toll of the 1300-1350 crisis
In 1969, Philip Ziegler accepted an average plague death toll in Europe of about 33 percent, or between 20,000,000 and 25,000,000,
The period from 1300-1350 saw the death of at least 50% of the population of Europe. In China, where the Black Death is said to have originated, a loss around half of the population is attributed just to the Black Death alone (going from around 123 million to around 65 million). In the early 2000s, Benedictow presented an overall European population of around 80,000,000 and plague death toll of about 60 percent overall in Europe, which is a total of about 48,000,000 dead. [21]
We note, that the ultimate death toll is still controversial, most historians agree that the Great Famine of 1315 already claimed at least 30% of Europe’s population and then the Great Plague from 1347 onward, claimed at least another 30%. Assuming that the population couldn’t recover in just 35 years after the famine, the second event of mass casualties would take then 30% of the remaining 70%, amounting to a death toll of at least 51%; if we use Benedictow numbers, we arrive at 72% within just 35 years. In Southern Europe, specially along the coastlines, the situation was even worse. Speaking only of the 4 years of the Black Death, some scholars believe that “In Mediterranean Europe, where the plague ran for about four years consecutively, it was probably between 70 and 75% of the total population”.[22] In England, the death rate was estimated at between 45- 60%.[23]
A musician at the papal Court in Avignon, Louis Heylingen (sanctus) of Beeringen, writes about an even greater mortality in Avignon and the neighboring parts:
“(…) for at Marseilles all the gates of the city, with the exception of two small ones, are now closed, for there, four- fifths of the inhabitants are dead.” [24]
We’ll examine below what the proximity to the sea and the various accounts of foul odors emitted from the sea have to do with this distribution pattern. Also in Palestine, (costal) Gaza seams to have been hardest hit, Ibu Battuta, Abu Abdullah (1304-1368) reports he found Gaza “depopulated due to the prior outbreak there(…) only 60 to 80 notaries remained alive.”[25]
To put these numbers into perspective: WW II caused the greatest loss of human life in recent history. According to conservative estimates, about 60 million people were killed in World War II, which was about 3% of the 1940 world population (of about 2.3 billion). The German population suffered the greatest loss of people in proportion to population, the death toll is disputed to be between 4.2 million[26] and 7.3 million[27] civilians and military death, amounting to 6 – 10% of the German population.
So, proportionally, the Great Famine of 1315- 1320 alone killed 3 to 10 times as many people of the European population as did all of WW II. We may ask ourselves how the enormous death toll of the 1315 Famine is usually only marginally taken into account in the discussion of the Black Death period.
Somehow, by the grace of God, our ancestors survived all that.
All of it.
You and I are here today despite all the pestilence, famine, and war. We owe it to those who struggled before us and those who will come after us to buck up and press on.
Things may get darker before they get better. Be a light to the world starting in your own home. Laugh. Laugh a lot. Cook good food, Read good books. Talk in positive terms. Shelter your children from the worst of it. Shelter yourself from the worst of it. Make prudent choices for your home.
Pray. Be in God’s Word multiple times a day. Leave your Bible open on the table, the desk, the counter, or wherever you spend most of your time. Read it multiple times a day, even 60 seconds at a time if that is all you can do.
Turn off the demonic television. Yes, that’s what I said. Turn off the profanity, fornication, violence, perversion, and every other thing that causes you to focus on sin and the flesh rather than the light of Christ. Stop giving yourself, your money, and your time to a culture that hates and despises everything you believe in.
If you need a mental break and need to escape a bit, make it uplifting and beautiful. There is nothing wrong with watching a good movie or reading a good book to give your mind a break while living in difficult times. But choose wisely. Choose something beautiful. Add light to your life, not more demonic garbage.
Make one hard choice. I don’t care what it is. Choose to do something hard today. Then choose to do something hard the next day. I can’t tell you what it is in your particular situation. What is hard for you might not be hard for me and vice versa. But do something. Make a hard choice. Train yourself to give up garbage that doesn’t have any meaning. Speak the truth where it isn’t popular. I’m not even going to make suggestions because I don’t want to influence anyone. Ask God. Your conscience probably already spoke to you when I encouraged you to do this. Start making hard choices so making hard choices becomes easier. It may be very helpful in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
We are all weary in one way or another. We’re tired of being lied to. We’re tired of tyrants at every level. We’re tired of people hurting our children. We’re tired of division. We’re tired of apostate church leaders and churches. We’re tired of evil people getting away with their crimes. We’re all so weary of it all. But we simply must pray fervently, rest in Christ, and push beyond it. Our loved ones need us to do so.