New Warhorn Media post by Tim Bayly:
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Thanks Pastor Tim, I will confess that I have for years been almost everything described here. Not everywhere or all the time, but my general view of authority was skeptical to say the least; experience is often harsh. I’ve been repenting for that for a little while now, and still struggle with it. Of course I don’t want to place our leaders in a position above the authority of the word of God, but most of my skepticism has been toward the nuanced and qualitative performances of government, in which I work. How often am I inclined to feel justified in my judgement, truly they make it easy for feel so. But this is not reason enough for me to rebel (if only in my heart) against even incompetent authority.
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Guilty as charged. Especially when thanking for the civil authorities I was a hypocrite.
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I’ve mentioned this before, but I will say again – it is astonishing to me how inept much of the governmental response to COVID-19 has been. Our nation has lost the can-do quality that won World War II and put men on the moon. In making this observation, however, I find it to be a cause for lamentation rather than complaint. A people gets the government it deserves, and especially so in a democratic republic. Sure, maybe someone could say he didn’t vote for any of the current office-holders, and no one can say that more strongly than me, considering where I live, but if the church were really salt and light, shouldn’t we have been influencing the culture to deliver more godly candidates?
Is the current crisis an expression of God’s judgement on America for her sins, like abortion? Perhaps, considering that the youngest are inexplicably spared from this disease. But I think the rot goes deeper and broader than that. One remarkable feature of American history has been that wise and virtuous men, like George Washington, have providentially appeared to take the helm during great crises – but no longer. Consider Abraham Lincoln; whether your consider him to be a hero or antihero, you must agree that our nation no longer produces men like that. It seems unlikely that Lincoln was an orthodox believer, but consider his 2nd Inaugural Address – more humility and biblical wisdom is there than one finds among most Christians these days. Repentance is called for, starting with the church.
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One challenge comes from looking at how various jurisdictions have responded. In terms of the resulting death toll, some have managed much better than others; the UK (where I live) has not really done that well. The Republic of Ireland, with 4.9m people, has had 15,000 cases and 700 deaths; my home country (New Zealand), with 4.8m people and a fairly ungodly government, has had a thousand cases and so far, 12 deaths. Australia, with 25m people, has had about 70 deaths. Comparisons, as Dr Johnson said, are odious; they can also be fascinating.
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I was under the impression that the better numbers in places like Australia and New Zealand have been in no small part due to the fact that this hit during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer, the heat from which is expected to depress the prevalence and communicability of the novel coronavirus in the Northern Hemisphere here for the next few months.
Fair point, and I will keep this in mind. That said, New Zealand isn’t that warm by the end of February - a 26C (80F) day is always something to write home about! 
This is helpful.