The Gauteng Department of Health announced on Saturday that total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the province as at May 8 sits at 1851, with 1247 recoveries and 18 deaths.

Many families have had to adjust to new routines with the extension of the lockdown. Nathan Adams writes about life in Cape homes in a time of crisis

Almost six out of every 10 new infections recorded on Saturday were from the Western Cape province, data released by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize shows.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says 3 953 South Africans have now recovered from the Covid-19 virus, which has claimed the lives of more than 180 people in the country so far.

The near-term economic fallout of the pandemic in the country was expected to be severe.

Book lovers can have their books delivered to their doorsteps, alongside their favourite takeaways. This development is as a result of the partnership between book-selling Exclusive Books and UberEats.

Safety preparations for public service employees to return to work under the Covid-19 level four regulations should have been made long before workers were recalled for duty, the Public Servants Association said on Saturday.

More than 1600 people have now recovered from the Covid-19 in the Western Cape, the provincial government said on Saturday.

As tragic as the deaths are, we are going to have to internalise the lessons and get going - we cannot hide forever.

Denis Goldberg lived his with integrity, and devoted it to fighting racism and inequality.

At least 500 000 people took advantage of the inter-province travel window period and returned to Gauteng by Thursday, said premier David Makhura.

A 56-year-old Johannesburg man was arrested during a roadblock at Calvinia in the Northern Cape this week for storing drugs in his spare tyre.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Saturday descended on the Western Cape as pressure mounted on the national government to intervene in the coastal province.

After 19 hours of being beaten and forced at gunpoint to extort money from family and friends a Bellair man is lucky to be alive.

The tally of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases reported by 53 African Union (AU) members states by Saturday stood at 57 746 confirmed cases; and 2 151 deaths.

Supermoms who have been on the front line since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic said passion for their jobs had sustained them during difficult demanding times.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

God entrusts comfort to us, often through trials, so that we may comfort others.

The nation of Ireland is nicknamed the “Emerald Isle” for good reason—it contains some of the greenest countryside of any location on earth. In visiting there I have noticed that abundant mist and fog, which often shroud the rolling landscape, help produce the rich green grass and trees. That phenomenon is much like the Christian life. Many times when our life is obscured by the sufferings and sorrows of trials, it has a refreshing beauty of soul that is not always readily seen. As the apostle Paul’s life demonstrates, sensitive and merciful hearts are the products of great trials.

Difficulties beset us so that God might bestow much comfort on us. But such comfort is not merely for our own benefit. The Lord entrusts His comfort to us that we might share it with others, as verse 4 of today’s passage indicates. And He comforts us in direct proportion to the number of trials we endure, which means the more we suffer, the more God comforts us; and the more He comforts us, the more we can comfort others who are hurting.

When we do experience real comfort in the wake of a trial, perhaps the most precious result is the sense of Christian partnership we feel. If God’s comfort helps us to comfort others, then it’s clear that other believers are positively affected by what we learn from our trials. The entire process lifts us beyond ourselves and shows us that as part of a local fellowship or the greater Body of Christ we are not alone and do not have to undergo various trials in a vacuum.

The comfort we receive and the sense of partnership that results is a great incentive for any of us to be encouraged through trials and sufferings, knowing that such experiences enable us to minister as integral parts of the Body of Christ (see 1 Cor. 12:26; 2 Cor. 1:6-7).

Suggestions for Prayer

Thank God for His unlimited supply of comfort.

For Further Study

Read Isaiah 40:1; 49:13; 51:3; 61:2. What promise does each verse have in common?

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

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• The MacArthur Study Bible
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The twelve apostles included "Simon, who is called Peter" (Matt. 10:2).

God knows how to get results.

God makes leaders by taking people with the right raw material, putting them through the right experiences, and teaching them the right lessons. That's how he trained Peter, and the results were astonishing. In the first twelve chapters of Acts we see Peter initiating the move to replace Judas with Matthias, preaching powerfully on the Day of Pentecost, healing a lame man, standing up to the Jewish authorities, confronting Ananias and Sapphira, dealing with Simon the magician, healing Aeneas, raising Dorcas from the dead, and taking the gospel to the Gentiles. In addition, he wrote two epistles that pass on to us all the lessons he learned from Jesus. What a leader!

Peter was as much a model of spiritual leadership in death as he was in life. Jesus told him he would be crucified for God's glory, and early church tradition tells us that Peter was in fact crucified. But before putting him to death, his executioners forced him to watch the crucifixion of his wife. As he stood at the foot of her cross, he encouraged her by saying over and over, "Remember the Lord, remember the Lord." When it was time for his own crucifixion, he requested that he be crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to die as his Lord had died. His request was granted.

Just as God transformed Peter from a brash and impulsive fisherman into a powerful instrument for His glory, so He can transform everyone who is yielded to Him.

You will never be an apostle, but you can have the same depth of character and know the same joy of serving Christ that Peter knew. There's no higher calling in the world than to be an instrument of God's grace. Peter was faithful to that calling—you be faithful too!

Suggestions for Prayer

• Praise God for the assurance that He will perfect the work He has begun in you (Phil. 1:6).
• Ask Him to use the experiences you have today as instruments that shape you more into the image of Christ.

For Further Study

Read John 21:18-23.

• How did Jesus describe Peter's death?
• What was Peter's reaction to Christ's announcement?
• What misunderstanding was generated by their conversation?

From Drawing Near by John MacArthur Copyright © 1993. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.

• The Study Bible (mobile app)
• Grace to You Sermons (mobile app)
• John MacArthur’s complete sermon archive
• The MacArthur Study Bible
• The complete MacArthur New Testament Commentary series