The Scream

Edvard Munch: The Scream

"Be not anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" Philippians 4:6

Edvard Munch's painting, 'The Scream' stands out as an icon of modern art. It depicts an anxious and fearful figure letting out a scream. Here is Edvard's commentary on this painting, "I was walking along the road with two friends, the sun went down, I felt a gust of melancholy. Suddenly, the sky turned bloody red. I stopped, leaned against the railing, tired to death as the flaming skies hung like blood and sword over the blue-black fjord and the city. My friends went on. I stood there trembling with anxiety and I felt a vast infinite scream through nature".

Today, the whole world is screaming as the Corona Virus 19 spreads. The COVID-19 virus pandemic started in Dec 2019 and to date it has spread to 173 out of 195 countries. The world tally thus far is 374,822 patients and deaths number 16,379. In Singapore 509 cases have been diagnosed with 2 fatalities. The speed and spread of an infection has not been experienced in recent times and have brought several countries and cities to their knees.

Naturally this caused much panic and anxiety in the world, stock markets plunged threatening a global recession if not a global depression. The enforced stay at home lock-down imposed by many countries and cities threatened many jobs, further aggravating the anxiety

Max Lucado in his book (ref 1) 'Anxious for Nothing' described this panic well, "One day the sky seems sunny and bright and the next, they are dark and foreboding. It is just as if the air has been taken out of your lungs and you are left trying to catch your breath". This describes the symptoms of COVID-19 in severe cases well. These patients have Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and their lungs are filled with inflammatory fluids and debri; breathing become more and more laboured. They literally choke to death. 

Coincidentally, the Latin root word for Anxiety means to choke or to squeeze; it takes your breath away. Certainly the severe patients of the Corona virus infection must suffer the anxiety as they fight for their lives but many others will be just as anxious.

St. Paul encouraged the Philippians not be anxious but he did not mean never to be anxious. There are circumstances for which panic and anxiety are natural reactions just as during the COVID-19 epidemic. In these situations we can by God's grace turn to Him to help dampen those feelings. Max Lucado paraphrased Phil 4:6 as "Don't let anything in life leave you perpetually in angst and breathless". For a season this pandemic may worry us and keep us anxious but we should not allow these circumstances to overcome us. 

Look to God. He promised to heal our land in 2 Chronicle 7:14

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land"

Click on blue letters to hear song

Ref 1 Max Lucado, 'Anxious for Nothing; Finding Calm in a Chaotic World' HarperCollins 2019